


Unlikely Alliances

by Narsil



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: F/F, F/M, divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 22:44:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/615202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narsil/pseuds/Narsil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Cologne encounters Ranma's mother before she finds the Tendo dojo, and the Amazon elder learns of the seppuku contract, she brings together the competing fiancées to plan how to see to it that Ranma lives up to Nodoka's expectations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting of the Minds

Cologne locked the door to the Cat Cafe and turned around to look at her guests. She knew the instant she had contacted them that the following conversation would be anything but an easy one. But it was necessary they talk. Working together was the best way to achieve what they all needed to happen. If they didn’t, or couldn’t, there was a very strong chance none of them would get what they wanted. Whatever risks there were in this course of action did not outweigh the potential benefits.

The Tendo family sat to one side of the room, with the Kuonji girl on the other side. Soun looked hopeful, no doubt believing this was about arranging a compromise of some sort about who got Ranma. Ukyo was on edge, as if expecting a fight to break out. Given the history between herself, Shampoo and Akane that was not too surprising. Kasumi was in the middle of some conversation or other with Akane, while Nabiki was carefully watching everybody else. No doubt waiting for the opportunity to slip in a snide comment, or pick up an opportunity to pick up a quick yen.

Together with Shampoo, who was still in the kitchen, this group was possibly the best chance for Ranma’s survival. Cologne sighed wearily, wondering just what she was about to kick off.

Shampoo bounded in from the kitchen smiling. The smile soon vanished from her face after a cursory glance around the room. “Where airen?” she asked.

“A fine question great grand-daughter, I also take note that his father is not present. This is unfortunate as I wished to share some... thoughts that I have been having the last hour or so.” During the course of the last sentence, she tightened her grip over her staff and narrowed her eyes. A chill went over those directly watching her, and for what would be the first time for some of them pity was felt for Genma Saotome.

“The principal kept Ranma after school,” Akane explained. “He wanted to talk to Ranma’s father about his grades. They’ll probably be in the middle of a discussion with him right now.”

/oOo\

“So tell me, boy.”

“Yeah pop?”

Genma ducked, and a pineapple flew over his head. “Just how exactly does he find the time to hollow out pineapples and fill them with explosives?” The pineapple exploded behind him as Genma leaped over a cunningly hidden pit trap.

Ranma leaped over the unfortunate teacher dressed in a tacky turtle suit and weaved past the net thrown at him. “Couldn’t tell you pop.”

As Genma barely avoided the lasers fired from a statue another question occurred to him. “What does this have to do with grades anyway?”

Backflipping over a hurled pineapple, and sitting atop the teacher that threw it, Ranma responded “Don’t ask me, the Kunos have their own way of thinking.” He then took great care to avoid the oversized wrecking ball that swung in from out of nowhere.

Meanwhile on the other side of the office, the principal sat back in his chair and sipped a colorful drink with an umbrella in it. Noting the action with a controlled, yet manic glee, he picked up the telephone sitting on a small table next to him. “Is time to release da bears, keiki! Make sure dey niiiiiice and agitated.” He put the phone down, chuckled, and drank in the chaos. He loved this job.

/oOo\

“Knowing the principal they might be a while.”

“That’s fine,” Cologne sighed. “It’s probably simpler that they aren’t here. While this affects them far more directly than the rest of us the two of them would just complicate matters if they were involved.”

“Involved in what exactly?” Nabiki piped up. Cologne regretted having to invite this one. She’d try to make money out of what could very quickly become a tragic situation and that was the very last thing the group needed. But then, at the same time, they needed outside forces interfering much less. She’d do far worse damage on the outside trying to get in than as an insider trying to make money. A few subtle prods and she might see that it was in her best interests to play ball as well. The rest would have no trouble agreeing this was an issue that required their complete co-operation. The problem was how long they would co-operate before attempting to act in their own interests.

Placing herself at the head of the table, she eyed each of them carefully. How she worded this was... extremely important. “This afternoon,” she began, “There was an incident here at the cafe. An incident I shall need your assistance in resolving.”

There was a sudden aura of concern around the table. “What kind of incident?” Soun asked, obviously very worried. He, like the others present, knew all too well how powerful and cunning Cologne was. If she needed assistance in anything it had to be an extremely serious matter.

Now that she had their undivided attention, she continued. “I should start at the beginning. At mid-day Shampoo had intended to pay a visit to Ranma with a free lunch.”

/oOo\

“Shampoo! My love! Wait for me!”

As the flying hug went directly past her Shampoo reached out, grabbed Mousse’s collar and slammed him into the ground. All of this occurred in a fluid, almost casual motion, as though she hadn’t really been watching what she had been doing. The practise of years of intercepting such advances shown brilliantly. “Silly Mousse leave Shampoo alone! Make too too delicious special lunch for airen. You no ruin stupid duck.”

Used to his mistreatment after all these years Mousse was already up to his feet. “I just don’t get it. What’s so great about Ranma Saotome?”

Before Shampoo could point out that Mousse was, in fact, attempting to converse with a houseplant, one of the customers gasped and rushed out of her seat. Sensing no ill intention Mousse was caught off guard when the woman grabbed his shoulders. “Did you say Ranma Saotome? How do you know him? Is he alright? Is he safe? Is he _manly_?”

To each question, Mousse began to formulate an answer but was interrupted before he could utter anything beyond the last syllable. On hearing the last one, he suddenly remembered his first fight with Ranma and broke into a fit of laughter.

/oOo\

“Hold on, hold on” Akane interrupted.”So there’s a woman looking for Ranma? That’s the big emergency?”

“Yes, I fear so. But-”

“Oh dear,” Kasumi said thoughtfully, “I do hope Uncle Genma didn’t engage Ranma to the poor dear’s daughter.”

Ukyo spoke up next. “No, I bet that jackass conned her out of something. Looks like he deserves another beating like the one I gave him.”

“Now girls,” Soun said, obviously attempting to calm the others down “While Genma has made several mistakes in the past I’m sure that it’s not quite so bad as you all make it seem.”

“He is correct,” Cologne confirmed. “It’s not quite so bad as you think.”

“Thank you, elder, I knew Genma —”

“It is much, much worse.”

“— Oh.”

A hush fell over the room as very similar thoughts went through their minds. They remembered the cat fist training. They all knew about Jusenkyo. They all knew about the craziness Genma had inflicted upon his son for the sake of training. Was there something worse in Ranma’s past that he hadn’t mentioned? He didn’t typically bring anything up until forced. Or perhaps he didn’t even know about this? How could it possibly be worse than anything else they’d heard of?

Nabiki was the first to speak up after clearing her throat. “So who exactly is this woman?”

“Ranma’s mother.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“You’ll understand soon enough...”

/oOo\

Cologne carefully looked over the woman sitting opposite her. The red tint to her hair, the general facial structure, the eyes, the smile... Oh yes, there was no question about it. This was son in law’s mother. The resemblance was much closer to his female form but was still distinctly recognisable in his male one. A chance meeting like this they could certainly use to their advantage. By making Shampoo look like the strongest candidate out of those attempting to win Ranma’s hand, a powerful and well placed ally could be made. But first she had to deal with a question that was nagging away at her.

“If you do not mind my curiousity, Mrs Saotome... I was wondering why exactly we have never had the opportunity to meet.”

“You said your great grand-granddaughter is romantically interested in my son? Then it is only appropriate that I inform you of this.” She clutched the strange bundle she was carrying closer to herself and pulled out a single piece of paper. The very first details to catch Cologne’s eye was a number of palm prints, obviously made by the hand of a very young child. Next to that was a signature that she would approximate to “Genma Saotome”. Her eyes drifted upwards and-

“Genma wished to take Ranma on a training journey from a very young age and feared that I would pamper him. To ensure my trust in his ability to raise our only son he offered this contract. Oh dear, are you feeling alright? You look a little feverish. And that eye twitch certainly doesn’t look healthy.”

“I’m fine! Really. So am I to assume that you will keep to the spirit of this contract?”

“Certainly. As the wife of a martial artist it is my duty to — oh dear me, you really should rest. You really do not look well. That strangled gurgling noise you’re making really doesn’t sound healthy.”

“Honestly, Mrs Saotome. It’s nothing that a freshly cleaned panda skinned rug won’t fix. Ah, Shampoo! I need your help in the kitchen for a moment!”

/oOo\

“After taking Shampoo into the kitchen I wrote the notes that requested your presence here and sent her off. I then stalled Mrs Saotome, promising her that I would help her meet Ranma at some point in the future and sent her on her way so we could discuss this unfortunate turn of events. By the expressions on your faces you understand just what the true nature of the problem is.”

“So... So what do we do? If she finds out about his curse she’ll... She’ll...”

“Yes exactly. None of us want Ranma dead.”

“I do!”

“Half blind part timers don’t count!” Cologne yelled, hurling a well aimed bucket of water into the kitchen. After a moment waiting for the ruckus in the kitchen to cease, she sighed and continued. “I am proposing an alliance. If we combine our efforts, then before either of the Saotome men discover this development we might be able to convince Mrs Saotome that Ranma is perfectly manly. Curse or no.”

“And then we kill Genma.” Ukyo muttered, fingering her spatula thoughtfully. A few of the others nodded in agreement and then looked at each other uneasily. Already, they were seeing a large number of problems potentially interfering. Happosai, the Kuno family, Ryoga... Any one of them could easily make an already difficult task into an almost impossible one. Worse yet, if Genma found out he’d almost certainly step in and they all knew exactly what he was like. Ranma wouldn’t make this all that easy himself, possibly insisting that he had to solve the problem by himself. The whole scenario felt like a giant knot, and they needed a sword to cut through it.

“I suppose you have some sort of plan?” Akane asked.

All eyes turned to Cologne, as she said, “Actually, I was hoping you could help me come up with one.”

“I don’t really understand what the problem is,” Kasumi said. “Ranma is a fine young man.”

Becoming aware of the stunned silence, she glanced around at all the shocked faces. “Well, he is,” she asserted. “Perhaps he is somewhat lacking in social graces, but he’s kind, generous, forgiving, honorable, and a fine martial artist. I don’t see why any mother would consider him less than manly in spite of the curse.”

Shaking off the shock from Kasumi actually involving herself in the situation rather than simply observing the inevitable chaos, Ku Lon nodded gravely. “You are right, child, any sane mother would be proud to acknowledge Ranma as her son. However, his mother’s definition of ‘manly’ is, well … somewhat one-dimensional. In fact, the only thing she seems to consider is the number of girls he has been ‘manly’ with, as she put it.”

At Kasumi’s confused look, Nabiki smiled dryly. “Sex, big sis — Ranma’s mom is wondering how many girls he’s seduced. And since so far as I know the answer is none, Cologne is right — we definitely have a problem.”

“Oh my, yes!” Kasumi exclaimed, shocked. “Ranma is much too well-mannered and respectful to do such a thing.”

_More like repressed, big sis,_ Nabiki thought. “Still,” she said with a big grin, “there’s a simple answer to our little problem, if not an easy one. We simply need to see to it that Ranma meets his mother’s definition of ‘manliness’, or at least pretends to.” _Now, let the games begin!_

The three fiancées, self-presumed or otherwise, glanced suspiciously at one another as the room fell silent. Finally, Akane grudgingly said, “There are already plenty of rumors floating around the school, I suppose if Ukyo and I confirm some of the less extreme ones it might help.”

Ukyo shook her head. “No, Sugar, it won’t work. If we do that and it gets back to Ranma, and it will, he’ll deny everything and come looking for us to find out what’s going on. For it to work at all, we’d have to bring Ranma in from the start and he can’t lie to save his life.”

“So Shampoo and rivals have to sleep with _Airen_ for real!” Xian Pu said enthusiastically, earning a disapproving frown from Kasumi, a grin from Nabiki, and glowers from the Akane and Ukyo. “So we tell _Airen_ what needed, each girl take different night, _Airen_ safe from crazy mother.”

“No, that won’t work,” Nabiki said, shaking her head. “If you tell Ranma he has to sleep with _all_ his fiancées in order to save his life, he won’t do it. He’ll either get all honorable and choose death before ‘dishonoring’ you girls, or he’ll run or hide. You’ll have to seduce him, instead.”

Ku Lon frowned suspiciously at the middle Tendo sister, but reluctantly nodded. “Nabiki could be right,” she said, “but I don’t see much chance in _that_ succeeding, either.”

“No, Shampoo able, if really want to!” Xian Pu disagreed.

“Not if I get there, first,” Ukyo immediately said.

“Oh, yeah? None of you live with him, that gives _me_ the edge,” Akane growled, and Nabiki carefully repressed her grin as thoughts of the betting pool she could set up for the race ran through her mind.

Looking to the side, she frowned — Soun’s shock at the direction the conversation was going looked to be wearing off and he was beginning to swell with what Nabiki assumed was fatherly outrage. Leaning over slightly, she whispered in her father’s ear, “The schools must be joined.”

At that, Soun froze, mouth open, then closed it and looked thoughtfully at his youngest daughter. Finally, he nodded. “If that is what it takes to preserve Ranma’s life, I will not stand in the way,” he pontificated, earning a stunned (and slightly betrayed) look from Akane as Ukyo’s and Shampoo’s faces fell.

Ku Lon carefully hid her own shock. _So, it seems involving Nabiki is already paying off,_ she thought as she hopped to the tabletop, drawing everyone’s attention and cutting off the budding argument. “So,” she said, “we have two possible plans: pretend that Ranma has slept with at least Xian Pu, Ukyo and Akane; or arrange for Ranma to actually sleep with the three either by letting him know of his mother and the seppuku contract or helping the three succeed in seducing him. So, which will it be?”

“I say we go with not telling Ranma,” Ukyo said. “Nabiki’s right — he’ll just run or get all noble if we do.”

“Shampoo agree,” the purple-haired Amazon said. “ _Airen_ good man, not go along, for sake of girls. So Shampoo and rivals take care of him.”

Akane shot a glare at her father, but he simply looked serenely back (ignoring the slightly manic look in his eyes). Finally, she transferred her glare to the other two girls and growled, “Fine, we chase him down. It shouldn’t be all that hard, the pervert!”

The Amazon Matriarch glanced around the room and stifled a groan at the welter of attitudes her centuries of experience revealed in spite of the others’ best efforts to hide them. The tense anger between Akane, Ukyo and Xian Pu was no surprise, nor was the pleased anticipation from Soun. The eagerness from Nabiki wasn’t exactly a surprise, but was definitely worrisome — that she was up to something was like saying water was wet, and Ku Lon wasn’t looking forward to trying to ride herd on the brilliantly greedy idiot. But the real surprise was Kasumi — the disapproval over presumably offended norms was no surprise, but there was something else....

“Now remember,” Ku Lon said sternly to the three fiancées, “this is not a competition — all of you need to catch him for this to work, not just one.” The three looked back at her, innocent expressions firmly in place (except for Akane’s, which kept slipping when she glanced at the other two), and Ku Lon sighed. “All right, why don’t we take a little time to think over how to do this, and meet back here after the supper rush in, say, three days? And remember, absolutely no one else can know about this!”

The rest gave their agreement and the meeting broke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half of this chapter was posted by Ezit Meti at Anime Addventures, for anyone who wished to add to.


	2. Strike One!

_All right,_ Nabiki thought as she walked along toward the dojo, surrounded by her family. _This is going to have to be the most discrete betting pool I’ve ever done. Maybe if I made keeping silent a condition of the bet, and if any rumor about what’s happening gets back to me the bets are off and I keep the money ... No, that would never fly — if I_ did _call off the bets nobody would believe that I didn’t start the rumors myself. Okay, how about if I find out that anyone that places a bet is talking about the race,_ his _bet is off and I keep the money? Yeah, that’ll work._

Glancing over at her quietly fuming younger sister, Nabiki suppressed a slight frown. _Setting the odds is going to be a bit tough, though — Akane’s the one Ranma is really attracted to, but she couldn’t seduce a Casanova; Ukyo’s the sanest and a great cook, but Ranma really just thinks of her as a friend and won’t want to change that; Shampoo’s the most beautiful and least inhibited, but she’s also the most aggressive and likely to be even more so. Hmmm, that’s going to be tough — unless I rig it, somehow. So, how to —_

Nabiki stumbled slightly at the sudden flash of inspiration, and fought to keep from giggling. _That’s it! I’ll make the bets for who gets Ranma first, then give the fiancées a week or two to inevitably blow their best shots for first tries,_ then _I step in and snag Ranma myself before they get a chance to fine-tune their approaches — nothing a little blackmail or bargaining shouldn’t take care of. If anyone complains, I can claim the girls had their chance to be first, and that it’s a life and death matter, and keep the money since_ I _won’t be one of the ones people are betting on. I won’t even be lying! And I even get laid — oh, this is going to be fun!_

/oOo\

Kasumi frowned slightly as she moved about the kitchen preparing the evening meal, trying and failing to attain her usual serene enjoyment in the familiar, homely routine. But try as she might, she couldn’t get the memory of the walk home and Akane’s glare out of her mind, except when it was replaced by the hungry smile Nabiki hadn’t even realized she’d had.

The matronly sister sighed as she realized her rhythm was off yet again, and turned her mind to a certain black-haired, pigtailed, muscular young man just her height (definitely not the boy she’d first thought) — honest, honorable, courageous, forgiving, gentle ... and if he was also ill-mannered with a near-terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease who was unwilling to show his feelings, what of it? So long as you remembered that he never _really_ intended to offend anyone (except in fights), you were fine. And the cute redhead Ranma sometimes turned into — she could be such a _fun_ little sister....

_It’s truly a shame that such a fine young man should be treated as nothing but a prize or a challenge,_ Kasumi thought. _Even Akane — and after all he’s done for her he deserves better. It’s such a shame that none of the fiancées really think of his needs first ..._

**So why don’t you do something about it?**

Kasumi froze at the thought, a blush spreading from her cheeks up into her hairline and down her neck to be covered by her dress. _No, I couldn’t! He’s Akane’s fiancé —_

**But Akane doesn’t seem to want him, or any other boy other than perhaps Ryoga. So why shouldn’t you take him away from her? Besides, he’s as much** **_your_** **fiancé as he is hers — he was given a choice, but then never made one, thanks to you and Nabiki. So make it clear to him that he** **_does_** **have a choice.**

Kasumi stood frozen in place for long minutes, her mind racing in all directions, emotions roiling, when suddenly a faint whiff of smoke broke the logjam and she whirled to the stove to salvage the food cooking there. Dinner was going to be surprisingly low quality that night — simply good rather than her usual magnificent performance.

/oOo\

As usual, Akane woke up to the sound of Ranma and his father sparring in the yard, insults flying as fast as their fists. Getting up with a sigh, the youngest Tendo dressed for her morning run and headed out.

This morning, however, she was jogging more slowly than usual, and as she passed the local park on impulse she broke off her run and sat down on the closest bench, thoughts of the group decision she’d been railroaded into by her father (and her own anger and competitiveness, but she carefully ignored that inconvenient fact).

_Do I really want to do this?_ she thought as she leaned back and stared at a nearby fountain. _Surely having_ one _of the girls not sleep with him wouldn’t make a difference. Sure, Ukyo and Shampoo will boast, but what’s to boast about? After all, it can’t be_ that _hard to get a boy to sleep with you, the way they are! It’s hard to believe he hasn’t slept with them already, the way those hussies throw themselves at him._

_But if they sleep with him and I don’t, that’ll give them an edge when it comes to marriage. And if one of them gets pregnant ..._

Akane found herself grinding her teeth, body taut as a bowstring, as memories of the good times floated through her head, the few times he’d actually complimented her, the rescues, the fun together they’d occasionally had (along with other memories of a cute redhead, and the way her smile would light up her face, but Akane carefully ignored that). _No way am I going to let those sharks have him!_ she thought, lips pulling back to bare her teeth in a snarl. _Even if he is a pervert, he’s a good-hearted one — he deserves better than that._

Decision made, the black-haired girl relaxed and rose, jogging back toward her home.

/oOo\

As Ranma and Akane walked to school, Ranma was close to panic — something was seriously wrong with Akane. This morning, she hadn’t insulted him when they met at breakfast — instead, she’d given him that smile that made him feel so odd. He’d called her an uncute tomboy, and she’d kept smiling. He’d commented on her cooking, and at least the smile had disappeared, but she _still_ hadn’t insulted him back, much less pulled out the Hammer!

As the two walked along, Ranma kept glancing at the girl to his left out of the corner of his eye, and ... was she glancing at him? And she was turning a little red ...

Suddenly, he stiffened as he felt her hand take hold of his. “A-A-Akane?” he stuttered, looking at the black-haired girl walking beside him, now definitely giving him all her attention.

“Ranma, do you ... do you _really_ think I’m uncute?” she asked softly.

Ranma instantly started to agree, but paused. Something about the way Akane looked, she seemed so ... so vulnerable. He’d never seen her like that, at least he didn’t think so ... he thought. And then the memory of their first day, the way she’d looked at Dr. Tofu —

“Akane, I ... I ... no, not really, not most a’ the time. Just sometimes,” the pigtailed boy managed to mumble, and his heart turned over as Akane’s face lit up again with _that_ smile.

To Ranma’s relief, she turned forward again, and they walked along in silence for a time. Ranma began to relax again — maybe she was getting back to normal (he carefully ignored the way she was still holding his hand).

Then, Akane turned her head again, looking soulfully at her fiancé. “Ranma, do you like —”

SPLASH! Akane suddenly found herself soaking wet all down her left side and front, blouse sticking to her chest as the Ladle Lady turned away, and Ranma was almost rolling on the ground howling with laughter.

Finally, he managed to control himself enough to look up and gasp out, “Yeah, now ya know what it’s like!” Then, as Ranma got a good look at Akane’s furious face he stiffened, bracing himself for the Hammer.

But to his shock, his fiancée merely closed her eyes for a long moment, took several deep breaths, then said through gritted teeth, “Let’s get to school.”

They resumed their walk, and to Ranma’s discomfort Akane again took his hand (though her grip was quite a bit stronger), though now at least she wasn’t glancing at him, instead staring forward. Finally, as they approached the gates, Akane again looked over at Ranma. “Ranma, do you like —”

“Do mine eyes deceive me? Can the rumors be true? Has the foul sorcerer finally broken through the divine Akane’s defenses to force her to love him?! No, it shall not be — I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, shall not permit it!”

_Yes, Kuno!_ Ranma thought, relief flooding through him. Breaking Akane’s grip on his hand, Ranma braced himself, readying for the attack from the tall upperclassman standing in front the school ground gates, dressed in a samurai’s robes and waving a bokken around as he pontificated.

Then Ranma froze as Akane _shrieked_ , her Hammer flashing into existence as she dropped her book bag and charged Kuno. Just has the upperclassman struck a presumably noble pose, her swing caught him solidly in the chest and smashed him back through the gates.

Akane followed her prey onto the school grounds, and Ranma forced his stunned mind back into motion even as he ran after her. _Wow, I don’t think I’ve_ ever _seen her this mad!_ He thought as he leaped the wall. Racing across the school yard, he caught Akane’s hands just as she started to swing the Hammer down at the unconscious Kuno, crumpled below the small impact crater in the wall of the building.

“Easy, Akane, I know he’s a jerk, but ya don’t beat on unconscious opponents,” Ranma said as she tried to jerk her hands out of his grip. After a few minutes of wrestling, Akane stilled, gasping, and the Hammer faded from view. Taking her book bag from one of the other girls, she slowly relaxed. Carefully not looking at her fiancé, she ground out, “Let’s get to class,” and strode into the school.

/oOo\

In her bedroom, Akane paced back and forth through the patch of late afternoon sunlight shining through her window on the floor, fighting her anger as her thoughts went over the same rut of the morning disasters over and over.

_Okay, trying anything outside of home just isn’t going to work,_ she finally thought, throwing herself back onto her bed and staring out the window. _There are just too many distractions, complications. But trying at home isn’t going to work, either — Ranma spends most of his time studying the Art, and when he isn’t there are too many witnesses. And if the fathers catch us together ‘like that’ we’ll be married before sundown!_

She gritted her teeth as she remembered her words the previous afternoon, about having the inside track, then stiffened as a thought struck her. _There is_ one _advantage I have here — the furo! That pervert ought to like it if — when — I join him there after his practice. Speaking of which ..._ She glanced up at the clock on her headboard. _He ought to be there right now!_ Getting up and grabbing a change of clothes, Akane rushed out of her room for the stairs.

Reaching the changing room, the black-haired girl smiled to see the ‘occupied’ sign up. Quickly stripping off her clothes, she grabbed a fresh towel, opened the door and stepped through.

On the short stool, Ranma in his girl form froze, a bucket of cold water pouring over her head. Something at Akane’s core unclenched (but she carefully ignored that), and her eyes traveled over the petite redhead sitting before her, up her firmly muscled legs, across the bush of red hair where they joined, up her firm stomach, lingered slightly on Ranma’s large, firm breasts, red pointy nipples stiffened from the cold water still running down Ranma’s body, then on up and —

Akane winced at the deer-in-the-headlights look on her fiancé’s face. _He’s afraid of me!_ she thought. _When did_ that _start?_

She smiled at Ranma, and was pleased to see some of the tenseness fade from the other girl’s body. “Turn around, I’ll get your back, then you can get mine,” Akane offered.

“But ... but ... but Akane, I’m naked!” Ranma protested.

“It’s not like you haven’t shown your top half to the entire world every time you wring out your shirt,” Akane said offhandedly. “And for your bottom half, you don’t have anything I don’t see when I look in the mirror.”

“ _You’re_ naked!”

“So? You’ve seen it all a couple of times already,” Akane rebutted with a shrug.

“I’ll be a guy as soon as I step in the furo!”

“Again, so? _I’ve_ seen it all already. Now, turn around and I’ll get started.” Akane carefully kept smiling in spite of the blush mounting her cheeks, repressing a confused frown. _What’s wrong with him? That pervert should be_ happy _to be given the chance to spend some time with me naked. That is why he keeps walking in on me, right? To see me naked?_

Finally, the petite redhead sitting on the stool nodded and turned, presenting her back to her fiancée and Akane put her towel to the side and grabbed the soap and scrubber.

/\

Homework finished, Nabiki leaned back in her chair in satisfaction, dropping her pen on the surface of her desk. _There! Now for more important things — the betting pool._

It had been a good, profitable day at school — few had anticipated Kuno’s charge through the gates to confront Ranma and Akane outside the school grounds, so that had paid off well. As well, she had gotten everything in place for her newest, most discrete betting pool — which girl would be the first to seduce Ranma.

But there was a problem, a big one, and Nabiki thought of the report from one of her spies that Akane and Ranma had been holding hands when Kuno accosted them. _Damn, but little sis is moving fast — too fast. I’m impressed, I didn’t think she had it in her. Come to think of it, just how fast_ is _she moving? Didn’t I hear her go by a few minutes ago?_

The middle Tendo quickly got up and checked Akane’s room — no Akane. Down the stairs and a quick look in the family room — no Akane. Rushing to the dojo, she peeked around the door — no Akane. Leaning against the dojo wall, Nabiki tapped a lip as she thought. _Okay, so she isn’t trying to help Ranma with his homework, and she isn’t trying to convince him to spar with her. She could have gotten Ranma to go out with her, grab a date without saying it’s a date — or it could be she’s not just moving fast, but_ really _fast._

Quickly heading back into the house, Nabiki tiptoed into the furo’s changing room and cracked the door leading to the furo itself. Peaking through, she found Akane sitting on the washing stool, with a blushing redhead scrubbing at her back.

Nabiki soundlessly closed the door and tiptoed out of the furo, then wandered back toward the family room. _This is not good. This is_ very _not good. I cannot_ believe _Akane’s moving this fast! I thought it would be Shampoo that I’d really have to worry about, maybe Ukyo, not violent, boy-hating little sis. At this rate, if she doesn’t snag Ranma in a few minutes it’ll only be a few hours, tomorrow at the latest. What to do, what to do ..._

Then, the mercenary sister heard a shout from the backyard — “Where am I now?!” — and a broad grin chased away her worried frown. _Oh, this is too perfect!_

/\

Akane sighed softly as Ranma soaped her back in gentle, even strokes. It had been surprisingly easy to convince the petite redhead to return the favor, but the oddly relaxing scrubdown was almost over and the cute red-haired girl would become the handsome black-haired boy. (Akane felt something at her core tighten at the thought, but she carefully ignored it.)

Then the scrubbing stopped. “All done,” Ranma announced, and Akane sighed as she picked up the water bucket and dumped it over her head, filled and dumped it again, then filled it a third time.

Turning slightly on her seat, she saw her fiancé about to step into the furo. “Ranma, hold up just a minute!” she called out, and the redhead paused.

“Yeah?” Ranma asked warily.

“Come here,” Akane ordered as she shifted from the low stool to the side of the furo.

Ranma hesitated, but then Akane smiled _that_ smile and her resistance melted. _I just know I’m gonna regret this,_ Ranma thought despairingly, but shrugged. With a sigh, she walked over, then yelped when Akane reached out and pulled the smaller girl into her lap.

“Akane, what are ya doin’?!” Ranma shouted, struggling to get up, but Akane held her firmly in place.

“Ranma, do you like me?” Akane asked.

“Uh, wha?” the redhead managed to get out, and Akane sighed.

“I asked: Do. You. Like. Me?” she firmly repeated.

“Uh, s-sure, a ‘course I l-l-like ya,” Ranma stuttered.

Akane smiled again. “Good, I’m glad. We aren’t going to have much time to soak before dinner, but first ...”

She caught Ranma’s chin, and the smaller girl froze as Akane softly kissed her on the lips. For a moment, Ranma seemed to melt, slumping against the taller girl, her lips parted —

And the door to the changing room smashed open as a large boy wearing dusty, ragged clothes and a yellow and black bandanna charged through. “Ranma, you bastard, you get away from ... from ...” Ryoga’s voice trailed off as his eyes widened at the sight before him, and Ranma shouted, “It’s not what it looks like!” as she leaped to her feet ... or tried to. Akane still had her arm around the redhead’s waist, and she overbalanced, the two slipped off the edge of the furo, and Ranma’s flailing arm slammed into the full bucket Akane had set aside and sent it flying across the room.

Akane yelped as her head bounced off the edge of the furo, slipped on the wet floor and sprawled prone, and tried to cover herself up even as she looked up at Ryoga — and watched as his clothes collapsed to the floor along with a muffled thud.

“Ryoga!” she screamed, scrambling toward the pile of clothes, and then froze as they shifted, and a _very_ familiar piglet wiggled out of the pile. “P-chan?” she gasped. “You ... how ...” She glanced in confusion over at the redhead sprawled next to her, to find Ranma pushing herself backwards, the deer-in-the-headlight look back on her face. And with that, everything clicked into place — the insults, the way P-chan and Ranma had never liked each other, the way P-chan and Ryoga had never appeared at the Tendo household at same time....

Everything went red with a shriek as the Hammer appeared in her hands, and Ranma ran, scooping up P-chan as she passed on her way to the destroyed door.

/\

Out in the corridor, Nabiki flattened herself to the wall as a naked Ranma-chan carrying a black piglet barreled out of the changing room and flashed past her, quickly followed by an equally naked, dripping, screaming Akane in pursuit, hammer held back over her shoulder ready to swing as soon as she got within Hammer range.

“Oh, my!” Nabiki heard as the two whipped around the corner and out of sight, and she lost it — Kasumi turned the corner her younger sister and possible fiancé had disappeared around to find her middle sister sliding down the wall, clutching her sides, howling with laughter.

In spite of Kasumi’s preference to stay in the background, she saw most of everything that happened within her domain, and inferred most of the rest. The motherly Tendo looked at the shattered door, at her sister laughing uncontrollably, considered what she’d just seen (very briefly), and frowned slightly at Nabiki.

“That wasn’t very nice, little sister,” she gently reproved, and Nabiki sobered somewhat — having Kasumi upset with you was not a good thing if you lived within her domain, there were so many little ways she could make your life ... interesting.

“It was just a little fun, big sis, no real harm done. Sure, Akane’s furious right now, but she’s right to be — the way Ryoga was acting is dishonorable, and for some reason Ranma let him get away with it. Now it’s out in the open, and once the two grovel enough Akane will forgive them. They’re too important to her for her not to.” _But it’ll take awhile — possibly as long as a week, and that will do nicely for my own plans._

Kasumi gazed down thoughtfully at the brown-haired girl for a long moment, then sighed. “Perhaps you are right,” she said (to Nabiki’s carefully hidden relief). “At any rate, dinner is almost ready. Help me get Akane calmed down.” Reaching down, she pulled Nabiki to her feet and the two set off in pursuit of the chase they could here slamming through the house.


	3. The Newest Alliance

Nabiki again walked alongside her older sister on the way to the Cat Café, unaware of the slight grin she couldn’t keep off her face. The last few days had gone _very_ well for the mercenary Tendo. While sitting Ranma and Akane down together and letting him explain his reasons for not telling his fiancée that Ryoga was P-chan had succeeded in keeping her from trying to hammer Ranma every time she saw him, the two weren’t yet on speaking terms — in fact, they weren’t even walking to school together anymore. Eventually that was bound to change, but for now there was no danger of Akane and Ranma sharing a bed.

Then, there was the whole Obedience Pill episode, with Happosai trying to force Ranma into line — it had ended in the typical way, with everything going back to normal, and had been too sudden and unusual for her to set up a decent betting pool, but the chaos had been _very_ entertaining.

In fact, the only cloud in Nabiki’s sky had been the annual family visit to her mother’s grave just that morning.

And now, the two older Tendo sisters were headed for the follow-up meeting at the Cat Café (Akane having flatly refused to join them), to try to come up with a way to get the girls into Ranma’s bed — this was going to be fun....

/\

Kasumi sat beside Nabiki, listening with the bare minimum of attention as ideas flew back and forth, each more extravagant than the last, her thoughts circling through the same rut they’d worn over the last few days.

Finally, unable to take it any longer, she abruptly rose. As all eyes turned to her, the eldest Tendo sister announced, “I am sorry, but I find myself unable to treat Ranma as a prize or a plaything. So, if you will excuse me, I will wish you all a good evening since I cannot wish you good luck.”

She strode to the door in the stunned silence. There, she turned around and looked back at the frozen quartet still seated at the table. After a moment, her stern expression softened. “Ukyo, Shampoo, it’s possible one of your schemes to trick or force Ranma into your bed might succeed,” she said, “but have you considered what will happen afterward? You might want to think about the future before you get too eager.”

Then, again turning her back on the room, she was gone.

Nabiki stared at the empty doorway. _This is_ not _good, not even a little — what if she tells Ranma ... ?_ She hastily rose to her feet. “I think this meeting’s over,” she said. “I’ll talk to Kasumi, I’m sure I can at least convince her not to tell Ranma what we’re doing.” And with that, she strode from the restaurant in her sister’s wake.

The two teenagers remaining glanced at each other, then at Ku Lon, and Ku Lon nodded. “Nabiki is right, this meeting is over,” she said. “There’s no point in making plans until we know how successful Nabiki is with Kasumi.”

After a moment, Ukyo nodded and rose to her feet. “In that case, I have a restaurant of my own to open. Tomorrow after school?” And with Ku Lon’s agreement the brown-haired spatula-wielder left as well.

/\

Nabiki caught up with her sister within a few blocks, only to find herself ignored by Kasumi. Choosing not to make an issue of it, she walked alongside the young woman that had finished raising her in silence until the dojo compound came into view, her mind racing furiously. Then, as they approached the front gate, she asked, “Are you beginning to regret dumping the engagement on Akane?”

Kasumi gasped and darted a shocked look at her younger sister as a blush mounted her cheeks. Finally, as the two stepped into the compound, she reluctantly nodded. “Yes, I am,” she whispered. “I know he’s young, and crude, and not as well educated as he should be, and the curse ... But he’s also brave, skilled, generous, and kind. Yes, I wish I had taken the engagement instead. But it’s too late, he really only has eyes for Akane.”

Nabiki shrugged, then paused as the two sisters reached the front door. “That may be the case, but Akane may not have eyes for _him_. If she really decides to break it off, the engagement would fall to one of us and I’d be happy to let you take it.

“But Kasumi, that assumes Ranma’s alive, and he may not be if we don’t make him ‘manly’ before his mother learns of the curse. Whatever you may think of our behavior and motives, we _are_ trying to save Ranma’s life. If you can’t bring yourself to help, can you at least stand aside ... not get in our way?”

Kasumi stared at her feet and actually fidgeted, but finally nodded agreement. Nabiki blew out a quiet sigh of relief, then impulsively embraced her older sister. “Thanks, sis,” she said, then walked into the house, leaving a bemused Kasumi behind.

/oOo\

Once again, Ukyo’s okonomiyakis had not been her best, and once again it was because her thoughts were revolving around a certain pigtailed boy — only this time, those thoughts weren’t daydreams of the two of them building a future and chain of restaurants together while raising a (large) family. Instead, she kept coming back to nightmares of Ranma abandoning her for Akane, or Xian Pu, or Kasumi, or Nabiki, or even Kodachi, and the cute chef cursed Kasumi yet again.

But even as she tried to tell herself that the matronly Tendo had simply been jealous (but when had she ever shown the least hint of being attracted to Ranma?), Ukyo couldn’t keep the seed of doubt planted by Kasumi from growing as she thought over her recent past with Ranma — what before had seemed like a hidden attraction (and when had Ranma ever been able to hide how he felt?) now began to seem like simple friendship however hard she tried to pretend otherwise.

Finally Ukyo gave up, took down the noren over the entrance, and finished serving the last of her customers. As the last customer left, she locked up and took up a position where she could observe the back door to the Cat Café and waited.

Eventually Ukyo’s patience was rewarded, and she stepped out to intercept Xian Pu as the purple-haired Amazon returned from a delivery on her bicycle, only to hastily step back and spread her empty hands as Xian Pu sprang from her bike and fell into a defensive stance at her rival’s approach. “Easy, Sugar, I’m here to talk, not fight,” Ukyo hastily said, and Xian Pu relaxed slightly.

“What Spatula Girl want to talk about?” Xian Pu asked suspiciously.

“About Ranma, and the future,” Ukyo replied. “Do you think Cologne can do without you for a few minutes?”

Shortly, the two girls were seated in Ucchan’s. “Shampoo here, so what Spatula Girl want to talk about?” Xian Pu asked again.

Ukyo was silent for a moment, then sighed and asked, “Shampoo, what happens to you if Ranma refuses to go back to China with you?”

Xian Pu jerked, then with a scowl said, “Not important, _Airen_ will come.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Ukyo insisted. “However unlikely it might be, a good warrior should have a back-up plan.”

Xian Pu’s scowl deepened, but she reluctantly nodded. “Spatula Girl right. And it bad for Shampoo if Ranma not come back to village — Shampoo become least of warriors if lucky, slave to tribe or even locked as cat if not.”

Ukyo nodded. “Thought so. Things won’t go so well for me, either — if Ranma refuses to marry me, Father will insist I kill him, or be disowned. And I won’t kill Ranma whatever happens, even if I could.

“But,” she continued, “what if you go back to the village without Ranma, but with his child?”

Xian Pu stiffened, opened her mouth for a hot retort then paused, a thoughtful look crossing her face. “Spatula Girl have good thought,” she admitted. “Main reason for Kiss of Marriage to bring husband’s blood into tribe — even if Husband not present, child will fulfill purpose.”

Ukyo nodded, then took a deep breath. “And what if you brought an outsider with you, who _also_ was pregnant with Ranma’s child? Would that outsider be accepted — for the sake of Ranma’s child?”

Xian Pu slowly nodded. “If Village Champion and respected Matriarch ask it, Council probably agree. But why? Does Spatula Girl really think it get that bad?”

Ukyo shook her head. “No, not really,” she said, “I really can’t see Ranma settling for that violent maniac. But like Kasumi said, we should think about the future — and if my father disowns me, I won’t have one here in Japan. Besides, if we were to get pregnant, that could give us an edge over Akane.

“So, the next question is, do you Amazons have any herbs that might get Ranma ... interested ... in us?”

“Yes, of course,” Xian Pu instantly agreed. “But use of those herbs forbidden for Husband Hunt.”

But we won’t _be_ on a ... a Husband Hunt, we’ll be seeking to protect Ranma from his mother,” Ukyo pointed out, and Xian Pu slowly nodded, a broad grin on her face, then sobered.

“Spatula Girl right, and nothing convince _Airen_ ’s mother that son is manly like grandchildren,” she solemnly proclaimed, and Ukyo grinned back at her sometime rival.

“So,” the chef said, “I’d say our best bet is to get those herbs in Ranma’s bento somehow, then ...”


	4. Storm Warning

Morning at the Tendos, and a purple-haired cat quietly leaped to the kitchen windowsill, and from there to the kitchen counter. Sitting up, Xian Pu looked around, and while cats can’t frown she would have if she could. The bento boxes were open on the counter, but which would be Ranma’s? After a moment’s thought, she nodded — it was obvious: given Ranma’s appetite, the biggest bento would be Ranma’s.

Walking over to the biggest container on the counter, the cat sat up on her hind legs, pinned the paper packet she held between her front paws, ripped it open with her teeth, and scattered the powder it contained across the container’s contents.

Then, hearing approaching footsteps from the hall, Xian Pu hastily leaped back to the windowsill and out into the yard. From there, she quickly climbed one of the compound’s trees, leaped to the wall, and down to the outside sidewalk and ran down the street.

In a nearby alley, she joined Ukyo, the cute chef waiting with a set of the Amazon’s usual clothing and a thermos of warm water. After changing to her human form and quickly dressing, Xian Pu smiled at her anxious ally.

“It done — spices added to _Airen_ ’s bento. But Spatula Girl not wearing special clothes?”

Ukyo grimaced. “It’ll be embarrassing enough wearing them at school, no way am I wearing them until I have to,” she replied. “I’ll change into them when I get there. Besides, I don’t see you wearing yours, yet.”

Xian Pu shrugged uncomprehendingly — foreigners could be strange, but she’d given up trying to understand them. “Shampoo join you at lunch time in own special clothes,” she said. “Unable to wear them before or Great-grandmother suspect something up.

“Now, Shampoo get back, begin chores for opening café,” she continued, getting on her bike. “See Spatula Girl at lunch.”

“Right, see you then, Sugar,” Ukyo agreed, and headed off toward Furinkan High while Xian Pu pedaled away for the Cat Café.

/\

Kasumi hummed as she returned from carrying the breakfast dishes to the family room. Her night had not been as restful as it could have been — recurring dreams of a handsome pigtailed boy curled into himself in fear while being circled by cats with the faces of Ukyo, Xian Pu and Nabiki while Akane watched with indifference from the side were not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Still, she was in her element, and the homey, familiar tasks were soothing to her soul.

Having delivered breakfast to her father, middle sister, and the two Saotomes, the matronly Tendo resumed preparing the lunch bentos, picking up the largest container on the counter and divvying its contents amount three bentos, then nodded. _Enough left over for lunch,_ she thought, as she set aside the half-empty container and started preparing a breakfast bento.

Kasumi frowned slightly as delight and disappointment roiled within her as she finished the breakfast bento — Akane and Ranma still weren’t speaking. Or rather, Akane wasn’t talking to Ranma. Perhaps worse, Akane had started going to school early, to avoid walking to school with her fiancé. And as a result, both were miserable and doing their best not to show it. Still, there had been signs the fiery-tempered girl was softening, and the way Ranma had stopped insulting her probably helped.

Then the raven-haired Tendo walked into the kitchen from the furo, dressed in her school uniform, and Kasumi turned to her with her usual serene smile firmly in place. “Good morning, Akane, here’s your breakfast and lunch bentos,” she said, and Akane actually smiled!

“Thanks, big sis,” she said, taking the two bentos and tucking them into her book bag.

Deciding that with Akane’s good mood she’d risk it once more, Kasumi asked, “Are you sure you won’t wait for Ranma?”

Akane grimaced — a distinct improvement over the past few days. “No!” she said brusquely. “See you after school.” And with that she rushed from the kitchen toward the front door.

/\

Akane frowned as she strode down the sidewalk toward the high school. She had been feeling so good about the day, and then Kasumi had to go and ask _that_!

**And what’s so bad about** **_that_?** an irritating voice she had been studiously ignoring for days asked in the back of her mind.

_He knew about Ryoga being P-chan all along and didn’t do a thing about it!_ she thought to herself, snarling. _I’ll bet that pervert was laughing about it all along._

**Yeah, right — that’s why you caught him with a tea kettle of hot water in your bedroom that first night. Are you angry at Ranma for not telling you, or for being right about Ryoga? As for being a pervert,** **_you_** **were the one that had to coax** **_her_** **into your lap a few nights back.**

Akane remembered the stunned fear with which Ranma had greeted her entry to the furo, the way she’d still been blushing when she’d finished scrubbing Akane’s back, the way she’d struggled when Akane had pulled her into her lap (the way her lips had parted at Akane’s kiss, just before Ryoga came barging in). Akane sighed pensively. _No, whatever Ranma may be, he’s no pervert,_ she admitted to herself.

Just then, she heard a _very_ unwelcome voice. “At last, my divine Akane has broken free of the accursed Saotome, and come alone to take refuge in my arms! Come to me, my fiery love, that we may take delight in each other’s company and yearn together for the day that the pigtailed girl will join us.”

_Ranma may not be a pervert, but that doesn’t mean other boys aren’t,_ Akane thought, as the familiar anger blossomed at her core. Snarling, the youngest Tendo hurled her book bag at the delusional fool and charged forward in its wake.

/\

Groaning, Kuno slowly became aware of his surroundings once again. Sitting up with a wince, he leaned back against the tree he’d been crumpled against, a song in his heart. True, his first love had attacked him yet again, but this time there had been no Hammer, only her feet and fists — truly, the spell that bound her was weakening and would surely soon break!

And then, a few feet away, the world’s finest kendoist saw further proof of the spell’s failing — lying where his love’s book bag had fallen was a bento. Quickly rising to his feet, Kuno scooped up the his glorious love’s secret offering of her angelic sister’s unequaled cooking and with glistening eyes vowed to eat it at lunch in honor of the future they would soon build together.


	5. Not exactly an orgy ...

Akane was still glaring at nothing, carefully ignoring Ranma, as she sat in the classroom waiting for school to start, her early morning good mood ruined by Kasumi’s question and her encounter with the Blue Blunder, as well as her own niggling doubts that she was finding harder and harder to ignore.

Suddenly, she was jerked from her thoughts of a handsome pigtailed boy, cute redhead, insults and fights, smiles and good times, as the usual murmur of pre-school day conversation died a sudden death. Looking around, Akane found everyone staring at the doorway to the classroom. Following their gaze, she froze in shock.

Standing in the doorway was Ukyo, her usual battle spatula on her back. But while the cute chef normally avoided feminine (not to say sexy) dress, that was very much not the case today. One _could_ say she was wearing the school uniform, sort of, if one was _very_ generous. The white blouse was still there, but the sleeves were gone, leaving arms and shoulders bare. The rest of the blouse was much tighter than usual and so was the top of the blue dress split down the side, making it obvious that she wasn’t wearing a bra. The dress’s skirt had also been tightened up, as well as being shortened to well above the knee and split high up both sides so that the overdress was held in place only by tied strings on each side of her neck and two strips of cloth above her hips. If she was wearing panties, they were the thong variety.

Blushing, the brown-haired girl struck a pose and the room burst into a hum of speculation while Okano-sensei frowned. “Miss Kuonji, that attire is _not_ appropriate for school. You will have to leave and ...” His voice trailed off as Ukyo glared at him. After a long moment, she smiled as she reached to adjust the white bow in her hair, coincidentally brushing the back of her hand along her spatula’s handle.

“Please, Okano-sensei, won’t you please let it go just this once?” she sweetly asked. “It’ll only be for today.”

Somewhat pale, the teacher forced a stern look on his face, but eventually nodded. “Very well, so long as this is the only day I will permit it. Please take your seat so we can start class.”

Smiling, the girl strode to her desk, smiling toward Ranma.

Growling, Akane whirled in her seat to yell at her fiancé to stop gawking, only to freeze at the sight of sweat beading on his forehead and a hint of panic in his posture, as if he was holding himself in his seat through willpower alone. He even had a slight tilt toward the window. Reaching out, Akane took his hand and smiled as his eyes jerked to her face, and he relaxed slightly at what he saw there.

Turning her eyes back to the chef, Akane grinned savagely. _You may have to sleep with him_ once _to save him from his mother, but he’s_ mine _!_ she thought fiercely. _No way I’m going to let him be your trophy to show off to your father!_

Unfazed at her rival’s challenge, Ukyo merely smirked at the byplay and took her seat, and a now sweating Okano-sensei started the class.

/oOo\

Akane sighed as the last class before lunch came to an end. It had been a tense morning, as she waited for the other shoe to drop ... and waited ... and waited ...

Now the morning was over, she had a pounding headache, and she’d just remembered that when she’d pulled out her breakfast bento that morning, her lunch bento had been missing.

Looking over at Ranma as he pulled out his usual oversized bento, Akane sighed as her stomach rumbled. _Okay, I suppose I ought to forgive the idiot. He did try to let me know about Ryoga, after all. And it really is a good thing that his honor is so important to him ... I suppose — though if he was a little less uptight we wouldn’t be in this mess with his mother. And Kasumi prepared my favorite today._

Rising from her desk, she walked over to Ranma, carefully ignoring how he stiffened slightly at her approach. Smiling (and grinning inside at the slightly poleaxed expression the smile brought to Ranma’s face), she leaned down. “Ranma, I lost my lunch. Can I share yours?” she asked sweetly.

“Uh ... sure, Akane, I’ll be g-glad ta!” Ranma managed to get out, and Akane reached down and pulled him to his feet.

“Great, let’s eat outside,” she said as she looked around the schoolroom, just in time to see the chef’s back as she left the schoolroom.

_Ukyo’s leaving? I thought ... dressed like that, I thought she’d be trying to move in on us. Where’s she headed?_

/\

Ukyo stepped out of the stairwell onto the roof of the school, looked around, and smiled appreciatively when Xian Pu stepped out from behind one of the roof installations. The purple-haired girl was dressed in another of her high-cut, tight dresses, but this one was split all the way from the hem to the armpits and had a series of circular windows cut up the sides, the circles closed with metal rings. There was another circular window cut out of the chest. With this dress, underwear was not only optional but impossible.

“Looking good, Sugar,” Ukyo commented with a whistle of appreciation, and Xian Pu smiled.

“Spatula Girl look good, too,” she replied. “Shampoo and Spatula Girl certain to get Ranma when herbs work.”

“Uh, about that — Ranma’s sharing his lunch with Akane,” Ukyo said.

Xian Pu looked thoughtful, then shrugged. “So there be three girls with Ranma, not two,” she said offhandedly. “That not matter, more important all girls get Ranma, so mother think manly. Besides, here,” she added, pulling out several liquid-filled corked vials and handing one to Ukyo.

“What’s this?” Ukyo asked, holding up the vial and looking dubiously at the translucent blue liquid speckled with flecks of some unidentifiable substance.

“Amazon potion for woman with problem having baby,” Xian Pu replied. She shook her own vial, pulled out the cork, and quickly drank the contents.

“Ah — I assume Cologne doesn’t know about this, either?” Ukyo asked, then nodded when Xian Pu rolled her eyes. “Right.” Popping out the cork for her own vial, she gulped down the vial’s contents, then gagged. “Kami, that’s vile!” she gasped.

Xian Pu nodded, looking thoughtful. “True, all real potions are. Shampoo no know why. Now, _Airen_ done eating?”

Ukyo glanced at her wristwatch, and nodded with an eager smile. “Yeah, as fast as he eats he’ll be done, even if he slowed down for Akane. Let’s go save Ranma.”

/\

Kuno leaned back against a tree (coincidentally, the same tree he’d been crumpled under that morning), and smiled dreamily as he gazed off into space, an empty bento box on the grass beside him. _Truly, the angelic Kasumi is a mistress of the culinary arts_ _—_ _as magnificent in her art as her glorious sister and the pigtailed girl are in theirs. Once Akane has accepted our destined union, Kasumi, too, should become a part of our household. What higher calling could there be than to serve the epitome of civilization?_

Then, closing his eyes, he drifted into fantasies of life with his two idols, the three together at events and parties, amazing all that watched them equally with their skills and suavity. Soon he was squirming as the fantasies grew more torrid and the amount of clothing all around grew less. Reaching up, he unbuttoned the top buttons of his school uniform’s shirt as he grew flushed.

Finally, shooting upright with a gasp, he reached out and grabbed his ever-present bokken and, not bothering to dress in his usual samurai robes, rose to his feet as he went in search of his loves.

/\

Ranma sighed contentedly as he leaned against a tree with Akane at his side, the two sitting in companionable silence, the empty oversized bento discarded to the side. He was never going to understand girls. He was grateful that after the Ryoga fiasco Nabiki and Kasumi had succeeded in talking their younger sister out of trying to kill him, but the cold shoulder she’d been giving him ever since hadn’t been all that much more comfortable. He’d tried being nice, stopping the insults, even coming up with a compliment or two, but nothing had seemed to work.

Then, out of the blue, suddenly Akane was acting as if nothing had ever happened. No, better than that — she was acting at her best, one of those times that made it possible for him to put up with all the yelling, insults, and hits. He had no idea what had happened to change her attitude, but he wasn’t going to complain about the results!

Luxuriating in the warm presence by his side, he closed his eyes, his mind drifting to thoughts of the future — he and Akane together, sharing the teaching duties for a once again opened dojo, a new family around them.

Then, dreaming of the children, his thoughts turned to their beautiful mother, and what it would take to bring those children into the world. He thought back to the evening several days ago when a redheaded girl had been seated in her fiancée’s lap, warm and wet from the rinse bucket, and their lips met....

“Ranma?”

Ranma jerked, shaken from his daydreams. Panicked at his thoughts, he jerked away from the tree even as he turned toward his fiancée only to freeze at what he saw. Akane was flushed, but her expression wasn’t angry, or petulant, or smiling, or any other expression he was used to seeing on her. Instead, she seemed ... hungry.

“A-A-Akane?” he whispered.

The black-haired girl didn’t answer, at least not verbally. Instead, she leaned forward, eyes closing, and Ranma remembered the furo ... and leaned forward to lightly kiss her on the lips.

The kiss didn’t stay light for long, and neither would be able to remember later which was first to embrace the other as the kiss deepened, their lips parting, tongues entwining ... neither heard the scream of outrage as Furinkan High’s true loon caught sight of them and charged forward.

/\

Nabiki stared at the couple, trying desperately to come up with a way to separate them without being obvious about it as she set aside her half-eaten lunch. She had no idea what was going on with the two, but she was staring disaster in the face — of all the possibilities in her discreet betting pool for which girl would bed Ranma first, the Akane option was the only one that would actually lose her money.

But even as she came up blank on an intervention strategy, fate provided in the form of a screaming kendoist waving a bokken as he charged at the pair. Nabiki sighed in relief—until neither of the pair seemed to notice the approaching menace. But that maniac could slice through trees with that thing....

The mercenary Tendo found herself charging forward, completely clueless as to what she was going to do, but she had to do _something_ ... and then more competent help was there, as Ukyo’s battle spatula rang from the impact of the bokken, her arms quivering from the strain of the off-centered block. Then Kuno was hammered to the side by a flying sidekick from a screaming Amazon. Ranma’s Amazon “wife” dropped into a crouch as she recovered from her leap, hands unclasping and clasping at empty air, as if seeking the missing chuí that were her chosen weapons.

“So, the foul sorcerer has enspelled yet more fair damsels, truly his evil knows no limits,” Kuno snarled as he rolled to his feet. “But it shall not avail him, the Blue Thunder shall yet triumph and overcome his malign influence!” And with that, he charged forward, bokken upraised with a battlecry, Ukyo bracing to receive the charge as Xian Pu circled, looking for another opening.

Nabiki’s eyebrows rose as she took in the way the two girls were dressed, then she shrugged. _Look into that later, first things first — that’ll take care of the Blue Blunder for awhile, now for the two love birds._

Turning to Ranma and Akane, her eyebrows rose again — not only was the pair still in a solid lip-lock, taking no notice of the fight taking place only yards away, but their fingers had gotten into the act, both their shirts open and ... Akane was rubbing Ranma’s chest while he was working on her bra’s clasp?! And Akane wasn’t trying to hammer the pigtailed boy, even beginning to moan a little?!

Then Nabiki noticed the single oversized bento box lying to the side, and glanced again at the two girls holding off Kuno, taking in the way they were dressed. _Right, that explains it. So, how to snap them out if it ... okay, that ought to work._

The middle Tendo quickly scanned the crowd watching, looking for ... yes! One of the girls was holding an open thermos. Running up to the first-year student, Nabiki grabbed the thermos from the startled girl, checked — yes, the leftover tea should have cooled off enough — circled the fight, sidled up to the amorous couple, and now her younger sister was embracing a petite redhead.

Ranma started, eyes widening as the kiss was broken by her size change — then Nabiki stared as a shocked murmur ran through the watching throng, chins dropping, as Akane gazed at her now _very_ busty fiancée (as her own hand was busy verifying), smiled, then lifted her free hand to the back of Ranma’s head to pull her into another kiss.

_Oh, great, and Akane was pissed at the rumors that were circulating before! So, if at first you don’t succeed ..._ Nabiki looked around, looking for something, anything, and grinned as she saw that a new player had been added to the mix — a large, fanged boy wearing dusty, ragged clothes and a black and yellow bandana, even now beginning to charge toward the pair.

“Ranma, how dare you involve Akane in your own perversions! Release her at once and prepare to die!” Ryoga howled, eager for a chance to redeem himself in the fair Akane’s eyes, only to be intercepted in his charge by a pageboy-haired girl.

“Ryoga, thank all the kami you’re here! Kuno’s gone completely insane, he’s trying to attack Akane! Ukyo and Shampoo are trying to stop him, but need your help,” Nabiki shouted, pointing toward the fighting trio.

Ryoga glanced over at the three and froze, blood trickling from his nose. The clothes the two girls had been wearing had been designed for seduction, not fighting, and showed it. Xian Pu’s dress had split up both sides and was now, thanks to various bokken swings, only a tattered rag held on across the shoulders. Ukyo wasn’t any better off — her overdress had split on one side and was now a trampled rag while her blouse’s buttons had given way under the strain and was hanging open, showing that she was definitely female. And, no, she wasn’t wearing any panties, as her attempts to cover herself with one hand as she awkwardly wielded her battle spatula with the other totally failed to hide.

_Good, now for Akane._ Leaning over the couple, Nabiki shouted into her sister’s ear, “Akane, Ryoga’s here!”

“What?! Where is that pervert ... oh.” Akane stared as “her P-chan,” eyes glazed over and blood now spurting from his nose, collapsed backwards under the weight of his backpack, umbrella slipping from his suddenly lax grip, as Xian Pu performed a standing high kick to the back of Kuno’s head — _she_ wasn’t bothering to cover up anything, and her purple-hair was indeed natural.

Akane’s gaze went from the crumpled Lost Boy to her again-wide-eyed fiancé, clearly torn between hammering on her former friend and returning to her previous activity, and Nabiki drawled, “You know, the two of you are being very ... public.”

Ranma and Akane glanced around at the throng staring at them and blushed deep red. “The dojo?” Akane asked.

“Right!” Ranma eagerly replied, gathered her fiancée up in her arms, leaped for the top of the school ground wall, and they were gone.

Nabiki watched them vanish out of sight and shrugged. _Oh, well, I guess I won’t be losing_ too _much money._ Then with a sigh of relief, she looked toward the fight even as she turned her attention to the need that had been growing in the back of her mind, demanding attention more and more loudly. Now, she finally relaxed the control she’d been exerting to resist that need — to a point. Her eyes traveled over the body of the bokken-wielding upperclassman, her appetite jumping at the sight of the way his uniform’s sweat-soaked shirt clung to his upper body. _Okay, so he’s a bit of a loon. But he’s honorable and so controllable, he’s_ _in_ really _good shape, and he’s rich. He’ll do. This’ll be fun._

“Hey, Kuno-baby, the lovebirds have gone!” she called out, and Kuno stiffened, glancing around, then went flying head over heels as Ukyo finally solidly connected with a one-handed swing. Sitting up and shaking his head, the kendoist desperately looked around again.

“Where has that monster taken her?” he demanded, but Nabiki shook her head.

“They fled at top speed, and who knows where they will end up?” Then as Kuno’s face fell, she added, “Kuno, I have something important to tell you about Ranma and your loves, important enough that I won’t charge you for it. Let’s talk — in private.”

Kuno stared, eyes wide, then choppily nodded. “Let us retire to my humble abode,” he intoned.

“You got it, Kuno-baby,” Nabiki purred, taking him by the arm, and the two walked out of the school gates, leaving behind stunned silence and a pair of gasping, near-naked, sweat-soaked girls.

/\

In the tree Ranma and Akane had been sitting under, Ku Lon relaxed her death-grip on the branch she was sitting on as she finally fought her near-overwhelming urge to howl with laughter under control. _I miss the village, but I must admit that Nerima is in a class of its own._ _I haven’t had entertainment this good in decades!_ Putting on a suitably solemn expression, the shrunken, wrinkled matriarch dropped out of the tree. “Xian Pu!” she called out, and her heir presumptive whirled.

“Great-grandmother!” she cried out in shock.

“An interesting plan, great-granddaughter,” Ku Lon said sternly, “but based on incomplete information. And when you ‘borrow’ some of my stock of herbs, don’t try to hide the bottles — their absence is more noticeable than a slightly lower level.”

Xian Pu dropped her gaze, blushing. “Yes, Great-grandmother,” she mumbled.

“Now, let’s return to the café, we have much to discuss,” Ku Lon said, then added with a stern look at the other near-naked girl, “You too, Miss Kuonji.”

Ukyo slumped. “Right, I’ll grab some clothes and —”

“ _Now_ , Miss Kuonji.”

Ukyo opened her mouth to protest, froze at Ku Lon’s glare, then jerkily nodded and, with a deep blush that spread down her neck and covered the tops of her on-display breasts almost to the level of her nipples, walked toward the school gates, quickly followed by Xian Pu and a pogoing Ku Lon.


	6. Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

Kasumi looked up from the last of her lunch preparation at the sound of someone at the door and waited for a moment, then sighed. Of course, there was no sound of movement from the family room indicating either her father or Uncle Genma was going to greet their unexpected visitor.

Setting aside the bowl in which she had been mixing a Western-style salad, Kasumi hurried out of the kitchen to the front door, only to freeze when she opened it, the blood draining from her face. “Oh, my!” the matronly Tendo gasped. Standing before her was a lovely middle-aged woman in a kimono carrying a long bundle, who looked like a grown version of Ranma’s female side, with all Ranma’s cuteness transformed into mature beauty.

The woman that could only be Nodoka Saotome blinked at Kasumi’s reaction, then smiled uncertainly. “Good morning, I’m Mrs. Saotome,” she said quietly. “I know that my husband and Soun Tendo are old friends, and I heard a rumor that Genma and my son Ranma are currently living here.”

Gathering her scattered wits, Kasumi bowed low in greeting. “Welcome to the Tendo Dojo,” she said. “And you are right, Uncle Genma and Ranma are indeed living here, though only Uncle Genma is here at the moment. Ranma is on a short training trip ... with his fiancée.”

“Ah, that is good to hear,” Nodoka said, seeming to lose an indefinable tenseness. After a moment’s silence, she asked, “May I at least see my husband?”

“Oh! Of course, I am so sorry!” Kasumi apologized. “Please, come in. I was just finishing preparations for lunch, you must join us.”

“Thank you, child, I will be happy to,” Nodoka agreed, and Kasumi led the older woman toward the family room.

“Father, Uncle Genma, we have a guest,” Kasumi said as she led Nodoka into the family room. The two men looked up from their usual game and Genma blanched at the sight. Even in her worry, Kasumi had to suppress a grin as she continued, “It’s Mrs. Saotome, Ranma’s mother. Oh, he will be so happy to see her when he gets back from his training trip with Akane!”

Soun glanced back and forth between Genma and Nodoka, confused, as Genma hastily rose to his feet. “No-chan, it’s wonderful to see you!”

Nodoka smiled, eyes moist, as she stepped forward to take his hands. “It’s good to see you as well, my husband. When your letters stopped coming after you left for China I started to worry.”

“Oh, I wanted to surprise you after putting a few finishing touches on Ranma’s training, and those last touches ended up taking longer than I expected,” Genma hastily extemporized. “I’m just sorry that Ranma is on the training trip with Akane that Kasumi mentioned,” — shooting the oldest Tendo sister a quick look — “he will be so surprised to learn — to finally be able to meet you.”

“Oh, it’s so good of you to give him a chance to be manly with his fiancée!” Nodoka gushed.

Soun twitched. He had no clue what was going on, but _that_ he understood. Opening his mouth to bellow at his old friend, he caught Kasumi’s frantic headshake from slightly behind Nodoka and froze.

“Mrs. Saotome will be joining us for lunch,” Kasumi said. “Father, can you help me bring it in?”

“Oh, let me help with that,” Nodoka said, turning to Kasumi. “And, please, call me Auntie — we are going to be family, after all.”

“I’ll be happy to, Auntie Nodoka. But you’ve just reunited with your husband. Please, let me and Father handle this while you talk with Uncle Genma.”

Nodoka hesitated but finally nodded, and Kasumi led Soun toward the kitchen. As soon as they walked into the heart of Kasumi’s domain, Soun demanded, “Kasumi, what is going on?”

“The seppuku contract that could threaten Ranma’s life, Father, remember?” Then, as tears started flowing from his eyes and he opened his mouth to wail the failure of the schools to be joined, Kasumi cut it short by handing him the bowl of salad. “Now, Father, none of that — I, my sisters, Ukyo and the Amazons are working to fix this, Ranma will be fine. Just, when we get back to the family room leave the talking to me and Genma. Please?”

Shocked into silence at Kasumi’s _very_ unusual assertiveness (and the implications of Kasumi’s inclusion of herself and Nabiki in the fix-it group), Soun simply nodded, then followed in his daughter’s wake as she swept up the rest of the lunch and headed back toward the family room.

/\

Kasumi looked around in satisfaction as she finished off the last of her salad. It had been a very interesting lunch — her father had actually had the good sense to stay quiet, though he had looked like he wanted to explode a few times at the innuendos she and Uncle Genma had worked into the conversation implying that Ranma was regularly sleeping with all three of the Tendo sisters and several other girls. Fortunately, Nodoka had hardly taken her eyes off of her husband the entire meal, and so had missed Soun’s visible agitation.

 _Now, I just need to think of some way to get Auntie Nodoka away from the house before school gets out,_ the eldest Tendo sister thought. _Perhaps a call to Elder Cologne, she could send Shampoo to pick up Ranma and Akane from school; if they stay at the Cat Café for a night or two that might give the others the opportunity to make Ranma ‘manly’._

A spike of envy shot through her but she firmly suppressed it, thinking of a handsome pigtailed boy and the need to protect him. Then, she found her thoughts drifting to just what was needed, thought of asking him into her room, of opening his shirt, slipping it off his shoulders, reaching for his pants ...

Blushing, Kasumi opened eyes she couldn’t remember closing, trying to focus on the outside world rather than the daydream drifting through her mind, and the normally unflappable girl gasped, mouth dropping open at what she saw.

/\

For Genma, it had been almost a year and a half — considering Nodoka’s attitudes about ‘manliness’ he hadn’t been worried about sex with other women, had indulged when possible during the training journey, and had been sure to boast of his successes in his letters to his wife (and to make up stories during the lean times). But poverty combined with at best a poor grasp of Mandarin Chinese had limited his opportunities during the last phase in China. Then when the father and son had arrived at the Tendo Dojo he had found his opportunities even more limited for the simple reason that he was now staying in one place — “love ‘em and leave ‘em” works _much_ better when you can actually leave.

But now, he was remembering again a large part of why he had chosen Nodoka as the mother of the next generation of the Saotome line. Her beauty, matured in the years since he’d last seen her but still luminous, took his breath away. Forgetting all about the presence of Soun and his eldest daughter as the conversation died away, Genma found himself leaning toward the woman sitting next to him, caressing her lightly on the shoulder, and then when she turned toward him putting his hand to the back of her head to gently pull her into their first kiss in well over a decade.

For Soun, it had been very long indeed. He was a man that had been very much in love with his wife, to the point that he had felt no temptation to wander, even during his wife’s last illness after she had sickened to the point that making love was out of the question. Then after her death he had been so wounded by her loss that he had felt no attraction for another woman, no matter how beautiful.

But, as Xian Pu’s seeded herbs coursed through his body, now he was remembering how stunned he had been by Nodoka’s beauty when she had attended his wedding, how he had delighted in watching her when she had visited on occasion before Genma and Ranma left on their training journey, and with those memories long-extinguished passion reawoke. He stared as Nodoka gasped at her husband’s kiss. Then, as she leaned forward into the kiss as Genma took advantage of that gasp to intertwine his tongue with hers, Soun rose as if in a dream and moved around behind the middle-aged redhead. Kneeling behind her, he leaned down to gently kiss the back of her neck as his hands circled her waist to loosen her sash.

For Nodoka, it had been the longest of all — since her husband and son had left. She would have had no objection to sleeping with a ‘manly’ man other than her husband, if she had met one. But after all, irresistibility is an attribute of truly manly men, and while she had had many offers over the years she had been able to resist them all. Even before the herb’s influence had impacted her, she had been finding it difficult to maintain proper decorum in the presence of her long-absent husband. Now that that influence was coursing through her, all thought of proper public behavior had fled and she moaned into her husband’s mouth, hands slipping under the gi he habitually wore, as long pent up need was given free rein.

So intent was she on her husband, especially as his hands began caressing her breasts through the kimono’s fabric, that she barely registered the gentle kisses on the back of her neck, and didn’t feel Soun’s hands at all until the sash fell away and they started to remove her outer layer of clothing. Nodoka stiffened for a moment, then gasped again as Soun’s efforts gave Genma greater, though not yet open, access to her generous mounds and what little thought of resistance had entered her mind promptly fled. Instead she turned to the side, so that she could loosen the top of Soun’s gi and run a hand over his firmly muscled chest.

Then Genma was on his feet and pulling her up as well, hands working frantically at her kimono, and Soun rose to help, pausing only long enough to slip out of his own gi before joining his friend in disrobing his wife. They quickly had her stripped down, and the two men paused to take in her voluptuous body — smooth, pale skin, generous breasts with only a slight sag from the years and the nipples hardened, pussy shaven bare and already glistening slightly from arousal. Then the three were sinking back to the floor on a pile of clothes, Genma discarding the last of his on the way down.

Nodoka immediately seized on the treasure she had missed so much, wrapping a hand around her husband’s erect manhood, and Genma groaned as she leaned down and softly kissed its head then slid her mouth down over its length as far as she could get, swirling her tongue around it. Slowly she began to bob her head and suck as she pumped its lower length with her hand.

Soun watched for a few minutes, then moved behind where Nodoka knelt and reached in between her legs and ran a hand along her moistened lower lips, then slipped several fingers up inside her wet heat, causing her to moan around her mouthful. Then, pulling out his fingers and nudging her knees farther apart, he ran his erection along her folds and slowly nudged them open as he sank it up inside.

Nodoka’s eyes widened as she felt herself stretch to accommodate Soun’s length, and she pulled her mouth away from her husband’s manhood, looking over her shoulder at his handsome friend. “Soun, please, not yet,” she said. “After all these years my husband should be first.”

“And he will be, I simply need some lubrication,” Soun replied, then looked at Genma. “A sandwich?” he asked.

Genma nodded, smiling broadly. “Of course. It does bring back memories, doesn’t it?”

Soun chuckled. “It does indeed — not all the memories of our time with the Master are bad ones.” He pulled out of Nodoka’s cleft, and her eyes widened as he simply shifted the head of his erection up slightly and pressed against her rosebud. Closing her eyes, she relaxed her sphincter as best she could and felt Soun’s manhood press through and slowly up into her ass.

As his balls connected with Nodoka’s skin, Soun nodded to Genma, and the balding martial artist gently lifted his wife up until her back rested along Soun’s chest, eyes admiring her heaving chest. Soun grasped the inside of Nodoka’s upper thighs, lifting her up slightly and pulling her legs apart, fully revealing her practically dripping cleft to her husband’s view, a view quickly obscured as he moved up against her, rubbing his cock along her folds then sinking it into her burning depths.

The two men simply knelt there with Nodoka between them for a few moments, giving her time to grow used to being filled more than ever before in her life, then slowly started to pump, quickly finding the old, familiar rhythm, Nodoka moaning and gasping in time with their thrusts, her belly rippling as her burning need grew.

Soun was the first, unable to hold out in her tight ass, and he shouted and buried his cock as deep into her as he could get as he felt his seed boil up and out into her. Nodoka felt the spurts of Soun’s seed filling her ass and froze, head thrown back and mouth open in a soundless shout, as she tipped over the edge and her own orgasm smashed through her. Her vaginal muscled clamped down on Genma’s plunging cock, and he thrust up into her and also exploded with a gasp, his own pent-up seed spilling into her and out around his cock.

The three collapsed to the side and simply lay there, gasping for breath. Finally, the two men pulled their softening members out of their respective orifices, and pulled apart enough that Nodoka could flop on her back. Instantly, they cuddled up against her, hands finding her breasts and gently kneading as they lay there catching their breath.

“Oh, that was too fast!” Nodoka gasped out, and Genma chuckled.

“That was just the first, we have plenty of missing time to catch up on,” he murmured in her ear, and Nodoka smiled with a sigh of contentment, hand running through Soun’s hair as he slid down to capture a nipple in his mouth.

/\

Forgotten by the three adults, Kasumi sat frozen in place across the low table from the three. Finally, as hands again began to roam, she silently rose and left the room for her own bedroom. There, she quickly slipped out of her housedress and frowned slightly at the stain her own flowing juices has caused, then pulled off her bra and soaked panties and reached under her bed to pull out a box containing a large fake cock. In seconds she was stretched out on her bed, rubber cock buried deep in her pussy and pumping frantically as her mind returned to her Ranma-centered fantasy.

/\

A redheaded Ranma dropped down inside the dojo compound by the koi pond and set Akane on her feet. Akane instantly grabbed Ranma’s ass and pulled the smaller girl against her, and Ranma’s knees went weak as their tongues resumed their duel, her own hands rising to run through Akane’s hair.

After a few minutes, Akane reluctantly pulled away from her fiancé. “Still too public, what if Dad or Kasumi find us?” she gasped out. “Let’s get to the dojo.”

Ranma nodded, and the two slipped into the house to make their way through to the dojo on the other side, only to freeze at the hallway junction that led toward the family room ... the oddest sound were coming from that way —

Looking at each other, the two nodded silent agreement and quietly moved down the hall past the kitchen and peeked around the doorway into the family room, eyes widening at the sight of Genma with his face buried in the crotch of an unknown woman, her face blocked from sight by Soun crouching over her chest as her head bobbed.

Pulling back, the two teenagers stared at each other. “Who’s the lady? And where’s Kasumi?” Akane whispered.

Ranma shrugged. “Don’t know and don’t care,” she replied. “Let me grab the hot water as we go through the kitchen, and let’s get ta the dojo.”

Akane felt herself tighten slightly even through the haze of need that seemed to engulf her. “Uh, Ranma,” she murmured as the two slipped back up the hall and into the kitchen, “the dojo’s fine, but ... can we skip the hot water this time ... please?”

Ranma stiffened and looked over at her fiancée. Something about that request bothered her, a lot, but her thoughts moved slowly through her own haze of passion and she couldn’t remember why ...

Then Akane reached out pushed aside Ranma’s still open shirt, hand caressing one of the red-haired girl’s full breasts. Ranma gasped at the touch, thoughts scattering, hand rising of its own accord to pin Akane’s hand in place for a moment. After a moment she nodded, and Akane smiled the smile that was enough to steal Ranma’s heart even in normal circumstances and reached for Ranma’s hand, and the two girls slipped out the kitchen door and ran for the dojo.

/\

Kasumi gave a low shout, back arching, as yet another orgasm ripped through her body, then collapsed back onto her bed, gasping. She simply lay there for a few minutes, covered with sweat, pleasantly aching from her recent activities, but her mind finally clear.

 _Okay, we were obviously drugged somehow,_ she thought. _But why ... of course, we weren’t the targets at all — it must have been intended for Ranma. But if we got it ..._ She thought back to what she’d prepared for lunch, then grimaced at the thought of the bentos. _I hope Ranma, Akane and Nabiki are all right, or at least not embarrassed_ too _badly. Still, this should make Ranma ‘manly’ if anything can._

Rising to her feet, she threw on her stained dress without bothering with the underwear and headed back down to the family room. As she’d expected, she found the three adults huddled together in a pile, asleep.

For a long moment, she gazed down at her father’s face where it was pressed against one of Nodoka’s generous orbs, smiling fondly. _Maybe this will finally shake him out of his grief,_ she thought, long-dormant hope rising. _And to encourage that, and protect Ranma just a little longer ..._

With a sigh, the matronly Tendo reached down to shake the adults awake.

A few minutes later, three adults, clothes hastily thrown on were staring at a calm Kasumi as she poured fresh tea all around.

“Drugged?” Nodoka repeated, and Kasumi nodded.

“Yes, there is one girl that Ranma refuses to sleep with. She — isn’t quite right in the head, and I suspect this was an attempt on her part to ... encourage ... Ranma to change his mind that missed its target.”

Setting down the teapot, she looked around and continued, “But don’t worry about that, Ranma’s been dealing with her for months, this time will be no different once he gets back. Instead, let’s discuss plans for the next for few days. Auntie Nodoka, if you have enough room where you live, I suggest that the three of you stay there until Ranma and Akane get back. That will allow you to ... get reacquainted without worrying about me and Nabiki.”

The adults’ eyes widened and they exchanged glances. Nodoka, a blush mounting her cheeks, nodded with a smile. “I think that is an excellent idea. It has been long years since the three of us last talked, some extra time to ... get reacquainted ...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes unfocused, and the two men grinned at each other and nodded.


	7. Battle Sisters

Two near-naked teenaged girls walked into the Cat Café, the purple-haired one blasé about her lack of dress, the brown-haired one holding a spatula trying to cover her breasts and crotch. Behind them, a diminutive wrinkled old woman pogoed in on her staff.

Once the three were inside, Ku Lon motioned for Shampoo and Ukyo to seat themselves at a nearby table, turned to lock the door, then joined the girls where they tensely sat.

For several minutes, the three simply sat in silence until Ku Lon finally said, “So, since the herbs used in Ranma’s lunch came from my personal cupboard, and I doubt Ukyo even knew they existed, I assume Xian Pu is the primary instigator of that fiasco.”

The two girls exchanges glances, and Ukyo sighed. “Not exactly,” she responded. “Yes, Shampoo suggested the herbs, but she was responding to my suggestion that we needed a backup plan.”

Xian Pu nodded. “Is true!” she agreed. “Herbs needed to make _Airen_ willing, eager to accept girls in bed, protect from crazy mother. And not total failure, _Airen_ leave with Kitchen Destroyer.”

The two girls fell silent, and after a few minutes waiting Ku Lon said, “There is a good reason for that, the herb you used doesn’t quite work the way common knowledge says it does — rather than enhancing lust in general, it enhances lust felt for the one that you are already most attracted to. Which means that Son-in- — Ranma’s choice of Akane means a great deal.”

As the two stared at her in horrified silence, Ku Lon asked, “And the fertility potion?”

Xian Pu winced slightly, but Ukyo gathered her wits and soldiered on. “I didn’t know about the potion until Shampoo met me during lunch, but I agreed that Ranma getting the two of us pregnant would make him seem even more ‘manly’ to his mother.” Xian Pu nodded her continued agreement but stayed quiet this time.

Ku Lon’s stern expression vanished, replaced by an ironic grin, and she chuckled. “Well, Xian Pu, not a bad piece of lawyering, you may have the makings of an Elder, after all!”

As the two girls’ jaws dropped, the Amazon matriarch continued, “Now, what’s the _real_ reason behind this?”

“Uh ...” Ukyo glanced at Xian Pu, who shrugged. The chef sighed, and quickly explained their reasoning to a nodding Ku Lon.

“Not bad,” Ku Lon mused when she was done, nodding thoughtfully. “That might even have passed muster without the cover story—setting up a fallback plan in the event you fail to convince Ranma to marry you, or that he’s already married in Xian Pu’s case, isn’t the same as using the herbs or potion to convince Ranma to marry you in the first place.

“ _However_ ,” she added when the two girls sagged in relief, “for both the cover and true stories to be credible, neither of you can attempt to use a pregnancy to convince Ranma to accept you, understood?”

The two girls quickly agreed, and Ku Lon hopped down from the table and headed for the kitchen.

“I’ll get started on the afternoon cooking, perhaps we can salvage something for the day. Ukyo, you owe me in part for the lost lunch revenue, you’re staying to help Xian Pu with the evening rush. And you two take a shower, you stink.”

Ukyo and Xian Pu again exchanged glances, shrugged, and headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.

As the two disappeared up the stairs toward the living quarters, Ku Lon shook her head ruefully. _Almost a year of effort, gone just like that—a year I’ll never get back, and I don’t have all that many left. Still, it sounds like Xian Pu and the tribe will get Ukyo out of it — a skilled warrior, if not in Ranma’s class, so it hasn’t been a total waste. Especially if those two get to Ranma while the potion is still affecting them._

Sighing over dreams ended, the elderly Amazon bounced into the kitchen to resume her preparations.

/\

Upstairs in Xian Pu’s room, Ukyo slipped off the torn open blouse that was all that was left of the _very_ sexy variation of a school uniform she’d worn to school that day, while Xian Pu slipped the shredded dress held together only by its collar over her head and tossed the rags aside.

The Amazon girl looked Ukyo up and down, then shrugged. “Spatula Girl not as big in chest, but about same size. Shampoo’s clothes might fit, at least well enough.”

Ukyo bristled for a moment, then laughed. “I suppose there’s no point being angry at the obvious. Grab your shower, Sugar, then I’ll get mine.”

Xian Pu shook her head. “Spatula Girl soon member of tribe, join future sister in shower.”

Ukyo’s jaw dropped, then she said uncertainly, “Uh, Shampoo, I don’t really swing that way.”

Xian Pu tossed off Ukyo’s objection with a shrug and began pulling her toward the bathroom. “That not important, when you Amazon sister. Come on, long time since Shampoo have sister soap back.”

Ukyo relaxed at that, and once in the bathroom grabbed the soap and shampoo as Xian Pu started the shower and adjusted the temperature, then the chef joined her new comrade.

Relaxing as the warm water washed over her, Ukyo shivered in pleasure at the feel of Xian Pu’s hands roaming up and down her back, only to stiffen when those hands slid around her sides and up to cup her pert mounds.

“Shampoo, what are you doing? I said I don’t swing that way!” Ukyo protested, then gasped as Xian Pu tweaked her hardening nipples.

“Body says different,” Xian Pu whispered in her ear, the feel of her breath making Ukyo shiver, then yelp as one of the Amazon’s questing hands slipped down to cup her sex, then ran a finger along her rapidly moistening slit several times before slowly inserting it up into her hot tunnel and beginning to gently pump. “Body not care sex of hands giving pleasure — or mouth.”

“M-M-Mouth?” Ukyo panted, her hips beginning to pump in time to Xian Pu’s thrusts.

Rather than answer, the Amazon pulled out her finger, then as Ukyo groaned in protest slipped around her to the front, turning Ukyo so that her back was to the shower wall. Dropping to her knees, Xian Pu gently widened Ukyo’s stance then leaned forward and Ukyo sucked in her breath at the feel of her companion’s tongue following the path her finger had already traveled, up and down, around and between her lower lips, then thrusting in as deep as it would go before circling inside her.

Ukyo’s hands dropped to Xian Pu’s head, holding her against her flowing cleft, and Xian Pu’s hands rose, one to grasp Ukyo’s buttocks, holding her sucking and licking mouth steady against the chef’s now bucking hips, the other flicking a finger over Ukyo’s clit.

Moans filled the shower stall, growing in volume as Ukyo felt the burning, glorious pressure building higher and higher. Then, Xian Pu pulled her mouth away from its repast, only to slide up and gently suck on the button at the top of the cleft, and Ukyo shouted as the pressure at her center exploded in a wave of pleasure that swept her away.

When Ukyo was again aware of where she was, she found herself sitting on the shower floor in Xian Pu’s arms, head pressed into the Amazon’s shoulder, warm water cascading over the two girls. “Wow!” she gasped out. “That was ... wow.”

“Shampoo happy Spatula Girl enjoy,” her companion whispered to her.

For a time the two simply sat, then hesitantly Xian Pu asked, “Spat — Ukyo, become Shampoo’s battle sister, guard back in fight, raise _Ai —_ Ranma babies together, share bed, stay together always?”

Ukyo stiffened, then slowly asked, “Shampoo, are you asking me to marry you?”

Shampoo shook her head. “Marriage for men, make babies, have someone keep house, raise children. With Ranma not coming to village, Shampoo never have husband. This not same, share life, not just make family. Though if Ukyo ever marry, Shampoo maybe share husband.”

For long minutes, Ukyo simply sat, memories of Ranma racing through her head — the same memories that had led to her alliance with Xian Pu, with the new one of a drugged redheaded girl leaping over the school wall, Akane in her arms.

Finally, with a half-laugh half-sob, the “cute fiancée” said, “Sure, why not? We’re the founding members of the ex-fiancées club, after all.”

Xian Pu sighed with relief, then lifted Ukyo’s head from its resting place and gently kissed her on the lips. “Shampoo glad. Now Ukyo give battle sister pleasure?”

“Uh ... Shampoo, I’ve never ... I don’t have your ...”

Xian Pu lightly kissed her new battle sister again, cutting off Ukyo’s babbling. “Shampoo know sister not have practice, only one way to learn. Shampoo help.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Ukyo said, then twisted where she sat, her head dipping as a hand rose, and Shampoo hissed as one nipple was gently sucked into Ukyo’s mouth while the other tingled with the pleasure of being stroked by the thumb of the hand cupping her breast. Then the other hand worked its way between her thighs....

/\

Downstairs, Ku Lon nodded with a bittersweet smile as her great-grandaughter’s cry of release echoed down through the ceiling. _And that is that. Welcome to the tribe, Ukyo, I’ll do my best to make your decision a happy one._


	8. 180 Degrees

Nabiki looked around as Tatewaki Kuno led her down the hall toward his room, doing her best to hide the yen signs in her eyes as her mind insisted on doing its best to estimate the value of the vases and paintings and paneling and marble flooring and ...

Finding herself hyperventilating a bit, the middle Tendo focused on the Kuno ahead of her and did her best to ignore her surroundings. Then, as she found herself being overwhelmed by a different kind of lust, attempted to not look closely at anything. _Focus, girl, focus!_ she berated herself as Kuno opened his bedroom door and waved for her to precede him through. _Remember, Kuno’s the key to all this, and you need a clear head to play him._

Looking around, Nabiki frowned slightly at the décor of the sitting room she found herself in, or rather the lack of it. While the paneling and floor were as impressive as always, the expensive accouterments had vanished, replaced by minimalist sketches and some hung weapons on the walls. A fully modern personal computer graced one desk, with another desk next to it with writing materials lying on it. On each side were several bookshelves, one with school-related books she recognized as being assigned by their teachers, the other full of what seemed from the titles to be biographies and histories.

Nabiki found her frown deepening as she tried to reconcile this austere, almost spartan setting with the over-the-top flamboyance that Kuno presented to the public. Finally, she shrugged slightly. _I guess he really does take all that “traditional samurai” stuff seriously — they were supposed to be unconcerned with material wealth, so that’s the way he’ll play it._ Still, she found herself feeling slightly off-center — out of kilter from the sudden readjustment of her view of the bokken-wielding lunatic that shared a classroom with her.

While Nabiki had been scoping out the room, Kuno had walked over and leaned the bokken he’d carried from the school against the chair at the computer desk. Turning to the middle Tendo, he crossed his arms across his chest and scrutinized her for a moment. “Very well, Nabiki, we are here. Now, what do you have to tell me about the scourge of Furinkan High and enslaver of my loves, so important that I needed to break off my pursuit of the sorcerer and the radiant Akane?”

Nabiki took a deep breath as she focused back on Kuno, his broad shoulders, sculpted muscles ... _Down, girl! Business first, fun later._ Carefully keeping her habitual smirk off her face, she walked over to the other chair and turned it to face her classmate and sat. After a moment, she sighed. “For starters, Akane didn’t leave with Ranma, she left with the pigtailed girl.”

“Nay, but Ranma was imposing himself on her, the pigtailed girl was nowhere to be seen!” Kuno protested, but Nabiki just shrugged.

“I imagine that’s what it looked like, but you were too busy fighting Shampoo and Ukyo to see who she left with — not that that matters, it’ll be the talk of the school tomorrow, you can ask anyone and they’ll tell you that Akane was carried off by a redheaded girl, not a black-haired boy.”

“And why should that be the talk of the school?” Kuno scoffed. “It is well known that my two loves are staunch friends.”

“True,” Nabiki agreed, “but no more than that. After the way the two were so caught up in kissing that they may not even have been aware of your presence, and left seeking privacy to continue their explorations of each other, mere friendship is much too mild a word. _That_ is what will be causing all the talk.”

Kuno stared at Nabiki for a long moment, then collapsed into his chair, not even noticing when his bokken was jarred loose and clattered on the floor.

“No, it cannot be,” the kendoist whispered in protest. “Akane is a true innocent, she cannot so unnaturally be attracted to her own kind. It must be an act.”

Nabiki shook her head sorrowfully. “No, it is no act — I have lived with her all my life, and ever since she has matured into a woman she has been as attracted to girls as she is to men. That didn’t mean she would ever act on that attraction since, after all, what girl in Furinkan would be worthy of her? But ...” she paused artfully, then continued with apparent reluctance, “I am afraid your pursuit of Akane through combat backfired badly — she came to believe that all the boys assaulting her every morning” — _including you, idiot_ — “sought to force her to ... accept their carnal desires ... and any that actually succeeded would have the strength and skill to compel what she was unwilling to give. Add to that the arrival of a girl truly worthy of her attentions, and she has soured on men for the foreseeable future.”

“But what of Ranma Saotome, and his pursuit of my loves? His assault on Akane just this afternoon?” Kuno asked almost plaintively.

“That is a terrible story,” Nabiki replied with a sad smile. “Tell me, have you ever seen your pigtailed goddess and Ranma at the same time?”

Kuno stared at her in confusion at the apparent non sequitur. “Nooo ...” he said slowly.

“That is because Ranma is the victim of sorcery, not the manipulator of it,” Nabiki explained. “The pigtailed girl is his sister, born at the same time and given the same name. Just before they arrived here they traveled through the backwaters of China, and there suffered a curse — they share one body, with only one able to manifest at a time. So long as the curse remains they will never be able to see each other, and the only remedies so far found would have removed the pigtailed girl from existence.”

Kuno stared at Nabiki in shock, then jerked to his feet. “No!” he shouted. “Saotome seeks the hand of Akane, and has ensorcelled her to forget her true love, even if he is unable to turn her love to him! Even if accursed as you say, he is yet evil incarnate!”

Nabiki snorted. “Really? If so, he has a strange way of showing it. Before today, had you hardly ever seen either act even as friends, much less lovers? I don’t really think calling a girl a flat-chested, uncute tomboy is the way to get anything from her but a beating.”

Now Kuno was gaping. “Is he such a fool as that? Did he truly say such to that fair flower of maidenhood?”

 _Not anymore, by now,_ Nabiki thought, but managed to keep the smirk off her face. “Yes, he has, numerous times,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Again, simply ask around the school and plenty of others will tell you the same. Today was the first time he has truly attempted to treat her as his future wife, rather than as a friend or nuisance.”

“But if this is so, then why have I been told that they are engaged?” Kuno asked.

“It’s truly sad,” Nabiki said, wiping at her eyes. “When our fathers were young they were students together, serving a fearful master. When they gained their freedom, before they were even married, much less before we were born, they agreed to merge the two schools they had developed by marrying two of their children. Now, Ranma and Akane are fated to marry when they attain legal age, whatever their own desires.” Then, as Kuno began to bellow a protest she added, “Surely a true samurai such as yourself understands a matter of family honor and filial duty.”

At this Kuno froze, staring helplessly at the brown-haired girl, and Nabiki put on a soulful look. “The truly sad thing is that the pigtailed girl my sister is truly attracted to lives but half a life at best, and the two cannot be together unless Akane accepts her brother as well. Ranma and Akane may find themselves bound into a loveless marriage, through our fathers’ demands and their mutual love of the pigtailed girl.”

Slowly, Kuno turned his gaze from the middle Tendo and stared at the wall, tears flowing down his face. “This is truly terrible, surely there must be some way to prevent this tragedy,” he begged.

Nabiki shook her head. “No, our fathers are adamant, and even if they died Ranma and Akane would seek to fulfill the agreement between our families, in the name of the honor of our families. Still, all is not bleak for them — Akane and the pigtailed girl will have each other, and Ranma may yet come to find love for Akane in his heart. He may be a fool, but as you say Akane is the epitome of womanhood, what man could long resist her? And while Ranma is crude in manners he has a good heart, Akane may yet come to at least consider him a friend.”

“True, it may well be that they will yet find happiness, even if they are deprived of the glory of my arms,” Kuno said thoughtfully. “I shall have to give thought to how I may aid in this endeavor ... this quest for the happiness of my loves.”

 _Gotcha!_ “Hmmm ... I am afraid that after their conflicts with you in the past they will find it hard to trust you, or accept your help — _very_ hard,” Nabiki mused.

Kuno leaned forward in his seat and, resting his elbows on his knees put his face in his hands. “It is true, I have been a fool, and it has cost me any chance of providing aid to those I hold dear,” he tearfully sighed.

Suddenly, Nabiki straightened. “I have it!” she exclaimed. “A way that you can be close to the girls while not seeming to be a threat, whatever your past history with them may be.”

Slowly Kuno lifted his face from his hands, his expression a mix of hope and suspicion. “And how do I accomplish this marvel?” he asked.

Nabiki took a deep breath. _Okay, girl, go for the gold._ “You marry me,” she said simply.

Kuno straightened and stared in shock. “Marry you!?” he shouted. “Why would I wish to marry you? How would that further my goal of aiding my beloveds?”

“It’s simple enough. As my fiancé, you have a reason to come around the dojo, keep an eye on things. The Ranmas and Akane will be suspicious, of course, but they can hardly keep you from visiting me and so long as you aren’t too solicitous of their wellbeing they’ll leave you alone. And do you think that once we marry I’m going to cut off all contact with my family? Of course not. That means family visits, as regularly as I wish to make them. I’m not going to leave my husband behind, so you’re there, too. So, a perfect way for you to be in the presence of your goddesses even more regularly than you are now, watching over their safety while not being considered a threat.”

“And what do you get out of this?” Kuno asked, glaring suspiciously. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe the Ice Queen is doing this out of love for her sister and care for my feelings!”

Nabiki shrugged. “Security, of course, and money. I certainly don’t expect your father to turn the family fortune over to me, but a hefty allowance I can play with will do me just fine.”

For a long moment Kuno simply stared at Nabiki, then jerked to his feet and stalked back and forth across the length of the room. Nabiki’s eyes were glued to her pacing classmate, as she found it harder and harder to restrain the need that had been pounding at her control since back at the school. Finally, Kuno turned back and slowly sat in the chair he had been in before. Again focusing on Nabiki, he slowly nodded. “Very well,” he said in a low tone. “Thanks to my earlier misstep, I see no other way to be near my loves and provide the support they will need.”

For just a second, Nabiki felt light-headed with elation at the success of her gambit. Then, the need she had been suppressing since lunch rose yet again, and she found herself rising to her feet and sauntering toward her new fiancé as her hands rose to the fastenings of her school uniform’s dress. “So, let’s seal the deal,” she murmured huskily.

“I ... what ... ?” Kuno stuttered, eyes widening as Nabiki slipped her school dress’s shoulders over her blouse’s puffy short sleeves and it fell to the floor around her feet.

Nabiki smiled hungrily as she stepped out of her dress and started unbuttoning her blouse. “It’s time to show you what you get for buying the cow,” she murmured as her shirt fell open, then she quickly slipped the sleeves down her arms and the blouse joined the dress on the floor. She stepped up to her new fiancé in her socks, house slippers, and white, lacy underwear.

“I ... no, I could not disgrace my fiancée so,” Kuno said, backing up.

 _No, he can’t, not now!_ Nabiki shrieked to herself, her mind racing for some way to change his mind. “Kuno ... I’m not a ... I don’t under — Why _not_? Isn’t that the way it works? The girl gets the flowers and fine meals and expensive gifts, and the guy gets access to the girl’s body. Marriage is just more of the same.”

Kuno stopped backing up and stared at the middle Tendo. Slowly, he asked, “Is that how you truly see men?”

“Why shouldn’t I? That’s how it’s always worked in the past, it’s what we’re doing now,” she responded, unable to keep a slightly bitter edge out of her voice.

Kuno gazed at the middle Tendo for a long moment, then gently smiled and stepped forward. Reaching out, he unhooked her bra’s front clasp, then slid its straps from her shoulders and let it slip to the floor before starting to unbutton his own school uniform’s sweat-stained shirt.

“Then you have been badly served by base fools, though I suppose no more is to be expected of common peasants,” he responded as he slipped off his shirt. “No matter if a man is with his wife, his beloved, or a woman he pays for her time and body, it is his duty to see to her pleasure before his own. Let me show you.” And with that, he swept her up into her arms and carried her toward the open door leading further into his suite.

Nabiki glanced around as they entered a bedroom, taking in the same austere setting as the sitting room, except — her eyes widened and a broad smile spread across her face at the sight of the large bed that dominated the room. “Oooh, _very_ nice bed,” she murmured.

“Yes, well, there is a difference between using wealth for ostentatious display and basic comforts,” Kuno said with a chuckle, then gently deposited the girl in his arms in the center of the bed, and Nabiki gasped as his hands slid down her sides to hook under the edge of her panties and slid them down her legs and off.

Stepping back, his gaze traveled from her eager face down over her firm, pert breasts, small brown nipples crinkling in need and anticipation, over her firm stomach, across the trimmed triangle of pubic hair, and stopped at the damp, glistening folds of her sex, revealed by unconsciously spread legs. Nabiki smiled as his eyes lit up at the sight. “You are truly beautiful,” he murmured, and as she lightly blushed in pleasure at the compliment he quickly unbuckled his belt and slipped off his trousers and underwear. For a moment he struck a pose to show that his erect manhood was of a size with the rest of his body, grinning at the way her wide eyes were fixed on his crotch, then turned toward a nearby dresser. “Just let me prepare ...” he said as he pulled out a condom, only to pause just short of ripping open the packet at Nabiki’s shouted “Wait!”

“Surely you wish protection?” he queried with a questioning look, but Nabiki shook her head.

“No, at this time of month I’m safe. And even if I’m not, having your children is part of the deal.”

After a moment Kuno nodded, replaced the condom in the drawer, then returned and lay down by Nabiki’s side.

Nabiki rolled onto her side to stare at the face of her dark-haired fiancé, inches from her face, feeling unexpectedly out of her depth. _Now what? With all the other boys, I’ve just lain there and let them have their fun_. “Kuno, I don’t know ... I’m not sure how ...” she stammered out.

“Hush,” Kuno murmured. He reached out and stroked her cheek, and she shivered as his fingers ran down along her neck, across her collarbone, and slowly down the side of her chest to run under a breast, then cupped it gently. “Just leave this time to me, let me show you what you have been missing.”

Lifting his hand from its treasure, he reached to her shoulder and gently pushed her back to lie flat, then she gasped, back arching as the hand returned to its place and the stiffened nipple of her other breast was captured by a soft pair of lips. For a time the room was quiet except for her moans and sighs as Kuno switched his mouth from breast to breast, licking, suckling, even nipping slightly. Suddenly, Nabiki gasped and again arched her back, eyes widening as her first orgasm exploded through her.

“Oh, kami, that was great,” she gasped out when she collapsed back onto the bed and recovered her voice. “And that wasn’t ... wasn’t even ...”

“That was just the beginning, My Lady,” Kuno said with a smile.

Nabiki moaned as a hand stroked down from a breast along her stomach, ran through the tight curls of her pubic hair, and along her nether lips. She eagerly spread her legs again to offer him easier access. “Yes!” she groaned as she felt a finger separate her wet folds, run along between them, then slip up inside as far as it could reach. “Oh, don’t stop, don’t stop, that feels so good, don’t —” she babbled, then stiffened as Kuno’s lips and tongue started following the path of his hand down across her stomach, pause for a moment at her belly button, then ...

“Stop!” Nabiki shouted, clutching as her fiancé’s dark hair. “Wait ...”

Kuno looked up questioningly, and she smiled back. “Thank you, Kuno, you’re the first man that’s been willing to go down on me, and I’ll be happy to let you another time. But now ...”

She tried to lift him off of her, and when he moved out of the way she rolled to her hands and knees and reached back a hand to part the folds of her cleft, displaying herself for the young man behind her. “Right now, I’m ready — please, I want you in me right now!”

“But of course, My Lady, your wish is my command,” Kuno intoned, then grinned self-mockingly when she glanced back at him. “But please, call me Tatewaki.”

“I’ll call you whatever you want, if you’ll just get your cock in me,” Nabiki growled.

With a laugh, Kuno moved up behind her, positioned himself with a hand as the other grasped a hip, then Nabiki hissed, throwing her head back, vagina stretched as never before as he slowly pushed his ramrod in with one steady thrust until his pubic hair was crushed against her ass.

There he paused for a few seconds to give her a chance to adjust to the welcome intruder stretching her wide, then, when she began to impatiently push back against him, began to slowly pump.

“Yes, give me that monster cock, that feels so good, don’t stop, don’t ever stop, give me more ...” Nabiki was babbling between metronome thrusts, then dropped her face to the bedcovers, one hand clutching at a breast as the other slid between her legs to frantically rub her clit.

Kuno was gasping now as well, sweat beading on his torso as he hammered into the hot, wet depths of his new lover again and again, then Nabiki gasped out, “Yes, I’m going to come!” and he froze, then quickly pulled out.

“No, don’t stop now!” she shouted, levering herself up on her hands and twisting to look back over her shoulder. “You said — !”

“Hush,” he soothed. “I simply wish to watch the face of my lover when she reaches her peak.”

He rolled her again onto her back, Nabiki eagerly spread her legs, and he positioned himself between her knees and again buried himself into her womanhood with one eager thrust. Her knees at the side of his chest, he leaned forward to support himself on his arms and resumed pounding into her.

Nabiki again felt jolts of pleasure shoot through her in time with his thrusts, the pressure quickly building, building, building — then she convulsed, eyes rolled back into her head, mouth open wide in a wordless shriek, as her second orgasm exploded through her.

Kuno froze as he felt her vagina clamp down on his pistoning cock, and gazed smiling at his fiancée’s flushed, sweat soaked, unseeing face as she shook with the force of her climax, waited until she fell back limply to the bed with a sigh, then resumed pumping into her. “Now it is my turn,” he murmured softly, and Nabiki looked up at him with weary eyes until several minutes later he thrust deep and froze, groaning deep in his chest, and she felt his manhood swell and blow splash after splash of his seed deep into her depths.

Slowly, Kuno pulled himself out of her, his seed coming out with his cock and oozing down to and along her ass crack. Wearily, he lay down at her side and pulled her into a hug. “And that is how a true man should treat his lovers,” he murmured, and Nabiki clutched at him.

“Thank you, Tatewaki,” she whispered tearfully.

“But of course. It was — literally — my pleasure,” he whispered back.

For a time the two lay together on the bed, arms entwined, then Kuno sighed and gently let go and pulled himself from Nabiki’s grasp. He stood up and stretched, Nabiki’s gaze fixed on his rippling muscles. “We both need a bath,” he said with a slightly hungry smile as he nodded toward another door, an answering smile breaking out on her face. “But first, there is something I believe you should have.” He strode over to the dresser again and pulled open another drawer.


	9. Home on the Range

“I’m home!” Kasumi’s head came up at the sound of Nabiki’s voice, and she turned from her preparations for dinner and hurried out of the kitchen toward the front door.

“Nabiki, you’re home early, is something wrong?” she called out, and Nabiki, halfway up the stairs, turned to look at her sister, a bemused expression on her face.

“I ... no, nothing’s wrong ... not really ...” she stammered out.

Kasumi’s eyes narrowed. _Nabiki, off her center?_ “All right, Nabiki, I’m sure you wouldn’t lie to me so nothing’s wrong, but something happened, what?” she demanded sternly.

Nabiki stared at Kasumi for a moment, then sighed and walked back down the stairs. “You know about what happened at school over lunch, of course, but —”

“Something happened during lunch?” Kasumi broke in, then blushed a deep red. “Did it involve ... sex?” she managed to get out.

“You mean you _didn’t_ know?” Nabiki asked, her distracted air vanishing. “But when Ranma and Akane left they were coming here!”

“Well, if they got here I didn’t hear it,” a suddenly concerned Kasumi said. “Check their rooms, I’ll look around down here.”

As Nabiki rushed up the stairs, her older sister hurried past the family room toward the furo. Finding it empty, she almost ran back to the kitchen and through the door to the backyard, looked around ... nobody. Rushing toward the dojo, she slowed as the sounds from inside the building registered.

Peeking around the doorway, she gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. “Oh my!” she whispered at the sight of her youngest sister lying on the dojo floor, her head bobbing between the thighs of a female Ranma crouched over her, the redhead leaning down between Akane’s own spread open legs, a hand pumping, wet slurping sounds intermingling with gasps and moans.

Suddenly, Ranma sat upright, her large breasts bouncing with the motion, grinding her crotch against Akane’s face, head thrown back and shaking. Kasumi whipped back out of sight even as Ranma collapsed to the side with a thump, panting for breath.

“Ranma, you idiot, don’t do that again, I couldn’t breathe!” Akane complained.

“Um, sorry, I ... I just ...” Ranma mumbled. “Uh, how ‘bout we move ta the furo? Kasumi should be startin’ dinner by now.”

“Sure, but there’s something you have to finish first — me!” Akane retorted.

“Oh ... right.” Soon, renewed moans interspersed by a running nonsensical monologue filled the air, and Kasumi quietly returned to the house.

Walking toward the stairs, she met Nabiki coming toward the kitchen.

“Nobody upstairs, you?” Nabiki asked.

“I ... yes, they’re in the dojo,” Kasumi replied, blushing, and Nabiki’s eyes narrowed.

“Still at it, are they? They must have gotten a larger dose,” the middle Tendo mused.

“Yes, they would have, from what I put in the bentos, didn’t you eat all yours?” Kasumi asked distractedly.

“No, I only ate half ... wait, _you_ drugged the bentos? Why mine?” a suddenly furious Nabiki demanded.

“Oh, no! I didn’t, I think Kodachi did, but it ended up in the lunch here —”

Nabiki swayed, the blood draining from her face. “Not ... not you and Father and Uncle Genma?” she whispered, horrified, and Kasumi started.

“No! But it did affect us all, plus a visitor — Nodoka Saotome. She and Father and Uncle Genma ... anyway, I convinced them to spend a few days at Mrs. Saotome’s home until Ranma and Akane return from a training trip.”

“Good going, sis,” Nabiki complimented, eyebrow rising. “So we have a few days yet, and it sounds like Akane’s making a good start.”

“Not exactly ...” Kasumi said slowly. “I don’t think Mrs. Saotome will count Akane being with Ranma-chan as manly.”

“Ranma- _chan_? Well, maybe what I told Kuno — Tatewaki — was closer to the truth than I knew,” Nabiki mused, and it was Kasumi’s turn to focus on her sister.

“Tatewaki? Is he who you ... ended up with? What did you tell him?” she asked.

Nabiki’s gaze dropped to the floor and she reluctantly told her mother figure of the web of half-truths and misdirections she’d spun for the kendoist, and his agreement to marry her.

Kasumi sighed. “Oh, Nabiki, that wasn’t ... yes, it’ll help in the short run, but ... what happens when he finds out you lied to him?”

“I don’t think he will, Kasumi, I don’t think the thought will even occur to him,” Nabiki said in a low voice. Reaching into her blouse, she pulled out a diamond-encrusted ring on a gold chain.

“Nabiki?” Kasumi questioned, eyes wide.

“His mother’s engagement ring,” the middle Tendo whispered. “He said that since I was going to be the Lady of the House of Kuno, I should have it. Kasumi, I treat him like a bank exchange, destroy his dreams, push him into a marriage when he doesn’t even like me, _tell him up front_ I’m in it for the security and money, and he treats me like I’m the most important person in the world and gives me his mother’s ring, and how do I handle _this_!?” she wailed.

Kasumi stepped forward and pulled her sister into a gentle hug. “You make it worth it to him, make him happy,” she whispered. “From now on, that’s your job — to make sure he never regrets his decision. That’s what marriage is about.”

For a long moment, Nabiki clutched at her older sister, then took a deep breath and stepped back, expression firming. “Right,” she said, nodding, then turned back toward the stairs. “I’ll be in my room, I’ve got some thinking to do.”

/oOo\

Kasumi frowned slightly as she covertly watched Akane and her black-haired fiancé from where they knelt across the table — she did not like the body language between the two. She had expected that after what she’d seen in the dojo the two would finally be relaxed, more comfortable in each other’s presence, but it seemed like things had gotten even worse. The usual exchange of insults was absent, but it had been replaced by silence, the two stiff and unable to even look at each other. And they were so distracted that they hadn’t even asked where the fathers were.

Nabiki had been distracted at the beginning of dinner, but eventually she, too, had noticed, and quirked an eyebrow at Kasumi while nodding toward the two, then shrugged when Kasumi gave a slight shake of her head.

Soon enough dinner was over, and Kasumi spoke up as the others rose to leave with hardly a word. “Akane, could you please help me clean up tonight?” she asked, her normal serene manner firmly in place.

Akane shot her a questioning look, but nodded. “Sure, big sis, I’ll be happy to,” she said, and bent to start piling up plates.

Once in the kitchen, Kasumi waited until Akane placed the plates in the sink, then, as Akane turned to leave, softly said, “Akane, I saw you and Ranma in the dojo this afternoon.”

Akane whirled back to face her sister, face gone white as a sheet. “Kasumi, I ... we ...” She trailed off, desperately searching for some way to explain, but Kasumi just sighed.

“No need to panic, Akane, I know you were drugged, and it’s what you were supposed to try to do, anyway — sort of. But why Ranma-chan? Why not Ranma?”

Akane turned away, hugging herself. After a long moment, she whispered, “Because I’m a pervert.”

“What?” Kasumi asked, stunned.

“Because I’m a pervert!” Akane shouted. “When we got here, Ranma offered to change back to a guy, and I didn’t want him to!”

Kasumi stepped up behind her youngest sister, hugging her from behind. “Oh, Akane ...”

The two girls simply stood in place for a moment, then looked up when Nabiki stepped into the kitchen. “I wouldn’t worry, sis, you certainly seemed to be enjoying Ranma’s attentions back at the school before I dumped some cold tea on him.”

“You heard me?” Akane asked, blushing.

“With that shout, I think the neighbors heard you,” Nabiki replied with a grin, then sobered when Akane went white as a ghost. “Sorry, I was just teasing,” the middle sister muttered, then paused thoughtfully. “Of course, you enjoyed the attentions of his girl form just as much ... I’d say you’re solidly bi.”

“But ... but when we got here ...” Akane stammered.

“Tell me, when you think of Ranma as a guy, what do you feel — revulsion, disgust?” Nabiki asked. “Truthfully, now.”

Akane frowned in thought. “Noooo,” she said, thinking back over the times she’d spent with her fiancé. “It’s a ... a mixture, some anger, some nervousness, some disgust at the way he boasts all the time, and ... yes, I’m attracted to him!” she finished, brightening. Kasumi carefully kept the envy and regret that stabbed through her off her face.

Nabiki shrugged. “Then I’d say you’re simply feeling the pull of some scars from Kuno and the Hentai Horde, it’ll probably fade in time.”

“But we don’t _have_ time,” Akane asserted. “Ranma’s mother could show up at any time!”

“Actually, she’s already shown up,” Nabiki admitted. “Kasumi rather cleverly diverted her — she’ll be busy with Father and Uncle Genma for a few days.”

“Then I really don’t have time,” Akane said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll just have to bull through and hope for the best.”

Nabiki and Kasumi exchanged glances, then Kasumi leaned her head forward from where she was embracing Akane from behind. “No, you won’t. I’ll take care of it,” she said calmly in her sister’s ear.

“What!?” both her sisters shouted, as Akane broke out of the embrace to whirl around and stare at her oldest sister. “No!” Akane insisted. “I’ve at least already been with Ranma, I can handle it, he’s my fiancé, you shouldn’t have to give up your first time for this!”

“What she said,” Nabiki added, “except I should handle it. Kuno already knows I wasn’t a virgin our first time — if I need to, I can explain it as a matter of honor, he’ll accept it.”

Kasumi just shook her head, smiling calmly. “There’s one problem with the assumption you’re both making — I’ve had an affair, I’m not a virgin.” Then, looking at the stunned, dumbstruck expressions on her sisters’ faces, she began giggling. “Too bad I don’t have a camera,” she added.

“How ... when ... you’ve never ... how did I _miss_ it?” Nabiki babbled.

Kasumi just shrugged, her smile turning wistful. “It’s easy to miss when the man in question is the son of one of the shopkeepers I buy from,” she said. “It was a few years ago, when he was taking a break from college, helping his father manage the store. It only lasted a few months, and I knew that was how it would be going in, but ... I was tired of being the housewife when I wasn’t even engaged. We still write occasionally, he’s now a marine biologist, doing research along the Great Barrier Reef. Though my letters have gotten much more exciting since Ranma moved in,” she added with an impish grin, startling a laugh from Akane.

Sobering, Kasumi stepped forward and placed a hand on Akane’s shoulder. “Akane, I’ll handle it. It’s for a good cause, Nabiki won’t have to cheat on her fiancé, and you’ll have time to get over your boy problem.”

Akane’s eyes fell, but finally she nodded jerkily. “Okay ... and thanks,” she whispered.

Kasumi chuckled again. “Oh, it won’t be a hardship, believe me — it’s been a _long_ two years. Now, how about we get the clean-up finished?”


	10. Night Moves

Kasumi reclined in her bed, back propped up on pillows, only half her attention at best on the romance novel she was trying to read in the brightness of the overhead light. The rest of her attention was on the hallway outside her door, focusing like a laser on every sound, waiting.

_I really hope tonight isn’t one of the ones Ranma spends on the roof,_ she thought to herself after yet another false alarm. _I know today’s been ... different from the usual chaos, but ... Wait a minute, after today he’ll have spent at least some time thinking up there, but he won’t be coming up the stairs, there’s the window!_

Throwing back her blankets, Kasumi pulled on her robe and hurried to the room the Saotomes had been sleeping in since their arrival. She knocked on the door, then, when no answer came, quietly opened the door a crack and looked in — no Ranma.

Turning away in disappointment, Kasumi started back to her room, then stopped. _Wait, what if he’s already on the roof?_ she thought, and hurried to her room, threw open the window by her bed, and leaned out. “Ranma, are you up there?” she called out softly.

For a long moment there was no reply, then she heard Ranma’s male voice respond, “Yeah, Kasumi, I’m up here. What d’ya need?”

“Could you come down here, please? There’s something I have to talk to you about,” Kasumi called back.

Another long silence, then she heard him quietly walk along the roof toward her. “Get outta the way, I’m comin’ in,” he instructed. The eldest Tendo stepped back, and a moment later Ranma swung through the window across the ledge running the length of the bedroom wall and landed on her bed. “Okay, Kasumi, what’s up?” he asked nonchalantly as he swung his legs over to sit on the edge of the bed.

Kasumi simply gazed at the handsome young man of her dreams for a long moment, then sighed. “Ranma, I saw you and Akane in the dojo this afternoon,” she said, and Ranma stiffened in shock.

“I ... you ... we ... it wasn’t ... okay, it was what it looked like, but ... but I don’t ...” the pigtailed boy stammered, and Kasumi chuckled.

“But you don’t understand why?” she asked, and Ranma nodded. “Relax, Ranma, I do. You were drugged — we all were, that’s not what I need to talk to you about. What happened _after_ I saw you? I’d have thought you and Akane would have finally relaxed around each other, but you are actually worse at dinner — as bad as you two were after she found out Ryoga is P-chan.”

Ranma had brightened at being told they’d been drugged, able to at least understand what had happened, but as Kasumi continued he winced, then braced his elbows on his legs and dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t know, Kasumi, I really don’t. After — well, after what ya saw in the dojo we went ta the furo. Everything was fine ‘til after I turned back inta a guy. When I wanted to ... well, to continue where we’d left off, Akane threw a fit, called me a pervert like always. Then, when I said we’d already been perverts together and what I wanted now was normal, she ... she started cryin’ and threw me outta the furo room. I didn’t see her again ‘til dinner.”

Kasumi sat down beside Ranma and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault, Ranma, it’s Kuno’s and the Hentai Horde.” She quickly ran over what Nabiki’s questioning had revealed, and Ranma straightened, brightening, then clouded up again.

“I’m glad it isn’t anything I did, but ... but how are me and Akane supposed ta get together if she’s scared of me?” he asked.

With an unseen bittersweet smile, Kasumi laid her head on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Ranma,” she murmured. “Akane really does like you — a lot. The drug we were hit with proved that. She just needs time.”

Unconsciously, Ranma slid his arm around Kasumi’s waist and pulled her against him. “I hope yer right,” he murmured. For a time the two simply sat quietly, Ranma lost in thought and Kasumi luxuriating in the feel of his warm body pressed against her.

Finally, Kasumi sat up straight with a sigh. _Come on, Kasumi, time to get on with it,_ she thought. _Besides, this isn’t exactly going to be a hardship._

Swinging around to kneel before Ranma, she looked up seriously at the surprised boy. “Ranma, do you trust me?” she asked solemnly. “Not just on day-to-day things,” she added as Ranma started a knee-jerk agreement, “on the really important things — do you trust me?”

Ranma paused, struck by the seriousness of her tone, then nodded firmly. “A’ course I do, Kasumi — yer about the only person besides Akane not ta care more about what ya can get outta me. I’d trust ya with my life.”

Finding herself tearing up at the reply, Kasumi stood up and pulled Ranma to his feet. “Good, then please trust me now,” she murmured huskily, and started opening the fastenings of Ranma’s shirt.

“K-K-Kasumi, wh-what ...” Ranma stuttered, grabbing her hands.

“I can’t explain right now, but I will eventually,” Kasumi promised.

“B-But Akane ...” Ranma managed to get out, before Kasumi pulled her hands free and put a finger to his lips.

“Little sis knows, and — well, ‘approves’ would be a little strong. She understands the need,” Kasumi said wryly, her fingers resuming their task. “Please — trust me, as you said you do.”

Ranma nodded mutely as his shirt fell open. Kasumi slid the shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor, and Ranma’s eyes widened as she dropped to her knees and her hands went to the waistband of his drawstring pants. “Kasumi, are ya sure ‘bout this?” he asked as her hands worked at his pants’ ties.

She looked up at his questioning face with a smiling nod as she pulled his pants and boxers to the floor. “Sit down, Ranma,” she ordered softly as she went to work on the ties around his ankles. Quickly getting them untied, she waited until Ranma collapsed back onto the edge of her bed, then pulled the clothing over his feet and shoved it to the side and stood up. “Oh, my!” she murmured at the sight of his stiffening cock.

_Your turn, girl,_ she thought with an eager grin as she removed her robe and started to strip off her bedclothes. Within seconds she had her nightshift off over her head, stepped out of her panties and tossed them to the side, and straightened, giving Ranma his first view of her naked body.

Ranma’s eyes widened as they travelled over the body of the tallest of the three sisters, focusing first on her large, firm breasts, nipples crinkling in anticipation, down along her smooth stomach, over her shaved pubic mound to finally focus on her already dampening nether lips. “Beautiful ...” he whispered, and Kasumi blushed lightly in pleasure.

“Thank you,” she said, dropping again to her knees, then reached out to run her fingers along his erect manhood. “And from this, I’d say you mean it,” she added with a wicked grin, and Ranma gasped as she bent forward and ran her tongue along its length, circled it around the head, then kissed the head before slowly sliding the rod into her mouth as far as it would comfortably go.

Ranma groaned as Kasumi’s head began to bob, his hands going to her head as one of her hands circled his erection under her mouth to rise and fall in time with her mouth. Her other hand slipped between her spread legs to run along her folds then begin rubbing gently, then more vigorously, at her clit. “Oh, kami, that feels good,” he gasped, then moaned as her tongue circled around his dick. For a time, the room was silent except for Ranma’s moans and whispered encouragement to an eager Kasumi as his hips began to buck slightly in time with her bobbing head.

Finally, Ranma grasped Kasumi’s head, stopping it in place. At her questioning look, he said, “Kasumi, this is great, but if ya keep it up I’m gonna come.”

Lifting her head, she simply said, “Good,” and lowered her mouth to resume her attentions. Within minutes she felt the rod filling her mouth swell and explode, and Ranma fought down a bellow as he pumped his seed down her throat. Kasumi swallowed hastily, only a little escaping around his dick to trickle down her chin. Sitting back on her heels, she smiled up at her new lover. “Thank you, it’s been a long time,” she said as she ran a finger along her chin to catch the spillage, then sucked it clean.

A stunned speechless Ranma nodded, then his eyes widened even further as she once again leaned down to suck at his somewhat softened member. “Kasumi?” he whispered, and she looked up at him as she felt his erection again springing fully to life in her mouth.

Pulling back and rising to her feet, she smiled down at him. “Oh, we aren’t done yet,” she said eagerly. Turning around, she put a leg on either side of Ranma’s lap and lowered herself toward his crotch even as a hand dropped between her legs to grasp his manhood, guiding it so that its head ran along her wet slit, then positioned it at her opening and groaned deep in the back of her throat as she sank down, driving it deep up into her. “Oh, Ranma, you’re so big, that feels so good!” she gasped as she felt herself so pleasantly filled again. “Oh, I’ve missed this so much!”

Ranma just groaned as she started to bounce, his hands running up along her sides, then around to cup Kasumi’s bouncing breasts. “Oh, yes, play with my breasts, squeeze my breasts, milk my breasts ...” Kasumi gasped out as she bounced, lost in the pleasure she’d longed after for two long years.

But even as she bounced and gasped out encouragement to Ranma, there was something niggling at the back of her mind, something bothering her, something off.... And then she had it — her door was open a crack. Thinking back as best she could through the mounting tide of pleasure washing through her, she was sure she’d closed the door when she’d come back from Ranma’s room. So how ... _Or rather, ‘who’,_ she thought. _So let’s see ..._

The now sweat-covered, trembling girl slammed to a stop on Ranma’s lap, gasping now from more than just pleasure. “I’m ... a little ... out ... of shape,” she wheezed, then twisted around for her first kiss from her secret love. Breaking away, she smiled slightly at the faint growl she’d been listening for. _Akane,_ she thought. _Well, if she wants to watch let’s give little sis a show._

Turning back to face the door, still filled by Ranma’s length, she leaned back against him, his arms dropping from her breasts to circle her waist. “Just give me a moment,” she murmured, and waited as her tremors slowly eased off.

Finally, as the last tremors faded away, she stepped up from Ranma’s lap and dropped down onto her hands and knees, facing the floor. “Come one, lover, it’s your turn to do the work,” she said, looking over her shoulder, and a now grinning Ranma dropped from the bed to his knees behind her.

“You got it,” he said enthusiastically, and reached down to guide his manhood back into its tight, wet, hot temporary home. Kasumi threw her head back with a squeal of delight as he buried himself in her to the hilt, then began to vigorously piston into her.

Kasumi glanced at her cracked open doorway through slitted eyes even as she began to rock back to meet Ranma’s eager thrusts, but try as she might she couldn’t see exactly who was watching from the hallway. So with an inward shrug and an _Oh, well, I’ll know for sure in a minute,_ she abandoned thought to the once again rising pleasure building inside her, radiating in waves from her oh-so-pleasantly filled vagina until finally the pressure exploded through her and out in a scream of release even as her convulsing tunnel slammed down on Ranma’s cock, and he gave out a deep groan as his seed once again erupted into Kasumi to fill her to overflowing.

/\

In the room next door, Nabiki winced slightly at the scream. _Wow, who’d have thought big sis had it in her?_ she thought in wonder, even as she turned up the volume on her MP3 player _again. I’ll have to see if I can do something about getting her a regular boyfriend — tomorrow._

/\

Slowly, Kasumi levered her head back up from the floor where her collapsing arms had deposited it and looked up toward the door. Forcing a momentary pause in her gasps, she pointed at the floor in front of her. “Okay, little sis, in here right now!” she ordered sternly.

After a long moment, the door swung open and a furiously blushing Akane walked in, dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and obviously soaked panties, eyes on the floor. Kasumi glanced at Akane’s hands — yes, one was glistened with her sister’s juices — as she felt Ranma slip out of her as he fell back in shock, his seed running down the inside of her thighs. Akane?” he whispered, but his fiancée simply continued staring at the floor without a word.

As the aftershocks of her orgasm died down, Kasumi stood up and grabbed some tissues from the box on the table by her bed and wiped herself clean, glancing at a Ranma hastily pulling on his pants, then back at her youngest sister.

Without bothering to pull on a robe, Kasumi walked over and placed her hands on Akane’s shoulders. “How long were you watching?” she asked gently.

“I ... I couldn’t sleep, thought a hot soak in the furo would help,” Akane responded in a voice so low she could barely be heard. “When I was walking by your door I heard ... heard Ranma. When I cracked open the door, you were ... were giving Ranma a ...” Her voice trailed off into embarrassed silence.

Kasumi gazed for a time at her sister as the glimmerings of an idea slowly grew. “Akane, once you saw what was happening, why did you keep watching?” she asked. “Did you wish you were in my place?”

Akane flinched, but after a moment slowly nodded. “Yes, I did — I do. But ...” Again, her voice trailed away, thought unfinished, and she shrugged.

_This might actually work,_ Kasumi thought with dawning hope. _A way to help Akane and Ranma, and make room for me as well, at least for a time._ “Akane, there was something I asked Ranma, before we started. Do you trust me?”

Akane’s eyes shot up to her sister’s face. “Of course I do, more than anyone!” she asserted hotly, offended at her sister’s question.

Kasumi smiled gently back. “Enough to try something that might get rid of your fear of Ranma, or at least start to?” she asked.

“I’m not afraid of that pervert!” the youngest Tendo shouted, and Kasumi frowned as she caught Ranma’s wince out of the corner of her eye.

“That wasn’t nice, little sister, nor true — it’s perfectly normal for teenage boys to be obsessed with sex, that’s just the way they are.”

“Really?” Akane asked in surprise.

“Really,” Kasumi assured her, “all the medical textbooks say so. If anything, Ranma’s not obsessed enough. So, are you willing to try to see if I can help you get over your fear of Ranma?”

Akane’s gaze dropped back to the floor as she again blushed, but after a time she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Good,” Kasumi responded, “get undressed. Then, when a stunned Akane failed to move, she reached down to grab the bottom of her sister’s T-shirt and pull it up and over the head of a surprised Akane. “Do I need to take off your panties as well?” she asked sweetly, and an even more furiously blushing Akane shook her head as she hooked her fingers under her panties’ elastic and pulled down.

As Akane stepped out of her panties, Kasumi glanced over at an equally stunned Ranma. “I’m afraid you wasted your time, getting your pants back on, take them off,” she ordered. Ranma stared at her for a moment, then hastily started to obey even as a blush spread across his face.

As Ranma again pulled off his pants, Kasumi took her sister by the arm and steered her toward the bed. Grabbing her pillows, she placed them so she could lie partially upright against the wall, then lay down and spread her legs wide and motioned for Akane to join her. “Come on, Akane, lie down on me.”

“Kasumi, what are you ... I don’t understand ...” a confused and now concerned Akane babbled.

Kasumi gave her youngest sister her most gentle smile. “Relax, Akane, I mean on your back, so I’m supporting you.”

Hesitantly, Akane followed instructions, lying down between Kasumi’s spread open legs, head pillowed against her sister’s breasts. Kasumi circled one arm across Akane’s chest under her breasts, while gently stroking her hair with her other hand. “Now spread your legs,” she whispered. Akane did, but stiffened when Ranma, once again naked and fully rampant, began to climb up between them.

At feeling her sister go taut, Kasumi sighed. “Ranma, hold up a minute,” she said, and Ranma stopped, looking at the eldest Tendo questioningly. After thinking for a minute as she felt Akane slowly relax again, she finally said, “Ranma, why don’t you start with what you were doing in the dojo? Akane’s already experienced that, and from you.”

“Got it,” Ranma responded with a nod, and slid down so that his head was between Akane’s thighs. Akane tensed up again but this time from pleasure, gasping as Ranma’s tongue again ran along her inner thigh, up along her outer lips, down the middle of her folds, before reaching as far up inside her depths as it could reach.

Kasumi continued to stroke her sister’s hair as she watched Ranma’s head bobbing between her sister’s thighs, his tongue and fingers alternating plumbing the depths of Akane’s womanhood and sucking at and flicking across her clit. Akane’s gasps and moans quickly filled the room, her hands clutching at the bedsheets, and Kasumi could feel her own body reacting when Akane began to shift and push against Ranma’s face, rubbing against her sister’s clit in the process.

_It’s — it’s time,_ Kasumi managed to think through her own rising need. “Ranma, now, but gently,” she instructed. Akane gave a mewl of protest when Ranma stopped and looked up at the order, then stiffened again when at Kasumi’s nod Ranma rose to position himself between her thighs, lifting her legs up and wide.

_A distraction, I think,_ Kasumi decided, and one hand slipped up from under Akane’s breasts and the other down from her hair to cup her breasts, tweaking her tightened nipples.

“Ohhh — Kasumi, what are you ... you doing?” Akane managed to gasp out through the new jolts of pleasure shooting through her.

“Doesn’t that feel good?” Kasumi whispered in her ear.

“Y-Y-Yes, but — ahhh!” she half-shrieked as Ranma ran the head of his cock along her wet folds, then slowly sank his full length into his fiancée with a groan at the wet, hot depths gripping his rod, and started to slowly piston in and out, reaching out and gently rubbing Akane’s button.

One of Kasumi’s hands rose to again stroke her sister’s hair even as the other continued to play with a tit. “Doesn’t that feel good?” she asked softly. “Like nothing you’ve never felt before?”

Akane didn’t answer in words, but the increasing volume of her moans and the way her hips again began pushing up to meet Ranma’s thrusts told Kasumi all she needed to know, and she smiled even as her own breathing picked up at the sensation of Akane’s back shifting and rubbing against her clit, her juices coating the small of Akane’s back.

Then Akane stiffened, back arching, giving out a long drawn-out groan at her explosion of pleasure before collapsing back down against her older sister, shuddering, as her orgasmic lock eased.

Kasumi smiled down at her limp, sweat-covered sister, arms dropping to again circle beneath Akane’s breasts, then frowned slightly at Ranma, still pumping into his exhausted fiancée. “That’s enough, Ranma,” she ordered.

He looked up, then froze at her expression. “Wh-what did I —” he started, and Kasumi broke in.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Akane’s just had enough for her first time. Instead ...” She motioned Ranma back, his manhood slipping out of Akane’s dripping cleft, then shifted over and slid Akane off her to the side, one arm circling underneath to keep her on the bed.

Again spreading her legs, she smiled up at Ranma. “Finish off here,” she offered, and Ranma hastily moved up between her legs and was soon pumping into her as deep as he could go, Kasumi’s free hand behind her to keep his vigorous thrusts from bouncing her head off the wall. The rising pressure of her needy pleasure quickly reached and surpassed its height from Akane’s unwitting attentions, and she soon exploded with strangled shout, Ranma’s seed again spurting into her depths as her vaginal muscles clamping down on him set him off, filling her to overflowing and oozing out around his rod to coat her inner thighs.

Ranma collapsed on top of his new lover, the two simply lying there for a moment as they recovered from their orgasmic highs.

Finally, Kasumi whispered, “Ranma ... you’re heavy.”

Blushing, Ranma muttered, “Sorry ‘bout that.” He rolled off to the side and onto the ledge along the wall.

Kasumi rolled onto her side to face an Akane now lost in exhausted slumber, and pulled her youngest sister against her. “You’re staying here tonight, Ranma,” she said softly, stroking her sleeping sister’s hair as her own exhaustion began to roll over her. “Pull the blankets up, please.”

Ranma pulled the blankets Kasumi had tossed aside when she first went to the Saotomes’ room over himself and his two lovers, turned to spoon up against Kasumi, and the two quickly joined Akane in dreamland.


	11. The Morning After

Kasumi slowly came awake, surrounded by the unfamiliar but delightful feel of warm bodies pressed up against her, front and back. _So it really did happen, it wasn’t just dream made out of a wish,_ she thought in drowsy joy. It couldn’t be another dream, none of them had actually included Ranma quietly snoring in her ear.

For a time, she simply lay there and drowsily watched over the top of her youngest sister’s head as the light from the window behind her slowly stretched across the floor. Finally, with a sigh she gently shook Akane’s shoulder.

Akane came slowly awake and cracked open her eyes, then jerked awake as the view registered and the memory of the last night crashed into her. Yanking herself out of her sister’s arms, she tried to sit up but found herself falling instead, thudding full-length, face first onto the floor. “Owie ...”

Kasumi chuckled lightly as she carefully shifted herself out of Ranma’s loose grasp and sat up. “Easy, little sis, we need to talk — and after last night, we both need to clean up as well. Let’s head to the furo, I’ll scrub your back if you scrub mine.”

Akane’s eyes widened and she shot to her feet, only to have her sister grab her by the arm before she could bolt. “Nothing sexual, Akane, I promise — just getting clean and talking,” the eldest Tendo sister said.

“A-Alright,” Akane agreed, relaxing slightly.

Kasumi rose and pulled on a robe, tossing an extra one to Akane, and the two headed for the stairs.

/\

A little while later, the two sisters were soaking across from each other in the furo’s hot water, Akane slowing relaxing from the preceding scrubdown. For a time neither said anything, until Kasumi spoke up. “So, about last night — did you enjoy yourself? Did you enjoy _Ranma_?”

Akane blushed beet red, but slowly nodded. “Yeah, I did,” she replied.

“And how about me? Did you enjoy my help? Because I certainly enjoyed what your squirming was doing to me.”

Akane stiffened and her eyes fell, but she eventually nodded. “Yeah, I enjoyed that, too,” she whispered.

“Good, I’m glad,” Kasumi responded softly, and the pair again fell silent for a time. Finally, Kasumi said regretfully, “As nice as this is, I need to get started on breakfast and you have your own pre-school morning routine, so we need to speed this up.

“Akane, what do you want?”

Akane looked up at that. “What do you mean?”

“All right, I’ll be more specific: do you want to marry Ranma, or not? Because if you don’t I’ll be more than happy to take him off your hands. He won’t be happy about it — he really likes you a lot, might even love you — but I think that I can get him over you in time.”

“Why you? Why not Nabiki?” Akane asked.

Her oldest sister chuckled. “You didn’t listen too closely, last night, did you? Nabiki’s engaged — to Tatewaki Kuno.”

“What?!” Akane shot bolt upright, causing waves to ripple across the furo and splash over the sides. “When did _that_ happen?!”

“Yesterday, shortly after you and Ranma started your fun in the dojo, I think,” Kasumi said drily. “And you’re dodging my question — do you want Ranma?”

Akane’s eyes dropped again, but she finally shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I do,” she said in a low voice. “He’s an egotistical, badmouthing jerk, but I want him — and her, kami help me.”

“You do know that there is going to be gossip, especially after yesterday?” Kasumi asked, almost desperately.

“And I’m afraid I made things worse in that regard,” came Nabiki’s voice. The two sisters whirled to find the middle Tendo leaning against the door frame, smothering a yawn, not a stitch of clothing on her lithe frame, only a ring on a chain around her neck and hanging between her firm breasts.

“Wh-what do you mean? How did you make things worse?” Akane asked nervously, then her eyes widened as Nabiki chuckled wryly and lifted the ring Kuno had given her and explained how she’d gotten it.

“... so Kuno should finally be off your and Ranma’s backs, and if he isn’t I’m sure I can sweet-talk him around, but you know him — he’s sure to make a big flowery speech begging forgiveness from the two of you, revealing everything in the process, at least as he sees it.

“Akane, how you and Ranma react to that speech is going to be important. If you play along, it’ll probably guarantee a Kuno harassment-free future, but definitely be seen as proof that you’re a lesbian by a lot of people — you’ll turn into the nail that sticks up overnight. Is keeping Ranma worth that, considering that the two of you aren’t that likely to stay a couple all that long, anyway?”

Akane stiffened, opening her mouth for a loud denial, only to hesitate. “Do you really think so?” she finally asked. “I like him, I really do — I think ... I think I might even l-l-l-love him.”

Nabiki straightened and sauntered toward the furo, sitting on the washing stool and pouring water over herself preparatory to soaping up. “Brrr, that’s cold. Sometimes I think the Americans do it right,” she mused, turning to Akane as she began running soapy hands over her breasts and tweaking her nipples, smirking while ignoring Kasumi’s repressive frown when Akane blushed and looked away.

“Anyway,” she continued soberly as she rinsed herself off with another shiver, “sometimes just loving someone isn’t enough, little sis, and the way the two of you fight I don’t think it will be this time — you’re just too much alike, too proud, too hot-headed, and that’ll make the two of you miserable from constant fights and misunderstandings.”

Akane had tensed as her sister spoke, pulling her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. Kasumi gazed at the miserable girl for a moment before slipping around the furo and placing an arm around Akane’s shoulders, pulling her youngest sister against her for comfort as Nabiki slipped into the furo’s steaming water with a sigh.

“You can relax, Akane,” Kasumi said softly. “I know a way for you to keep Ranma, stay together, and be happy.”

“Really?” Akane asked hopefully, looking up.

Kasumi nodded. “Yes ... make me a part of the relationship.”

“What? Like last night?!” Akane half-shouted, straightening with a jerk and pulling away, while Nabiki’s jaw dropped.

“Yes, like last night,” Kasumi said, “though I promise, nothing sexual outside of the bedroom, and only within it when Ranma’s with us.

“Think about it,” she continued as her two sisters stared at her, stunned speechless. “Your and Ranma’s biggest problem is your temper combined with his tendency to speak without thinking, and both your pride afterward. But if I’m there, to give the two of you someone else to talk to about things, to help you both when you’re angry, it’ll cut down on the arguments, help you make up faster, make you both happier.”

“But ... but ... but ... Kasumi, I can’t ask that of you, you deserve your own man, your own family!” Akane finally burst out.

Kasumi shook her head, dropping her eyes. “I don’t want another man, I want Ranma. I won’t take him away from you, not when you want him and you’re the one he really wants, but ... could you share? Please? You won’t regret it, I promise.”

Akane stared at Kasumi for a long moment, shock, jealousy, hope, fear, all at war in her mind. And was that a hint of eagerness? _Kasumi’s been like a mother to me since Mom died, how can I ... can I ... ?_

**She sure didn’t seem much like a mother last night, did she? Or even a sister — those hands playing with your breasts certainly felt good. And the fact that it was Kasumi’s hands just added to it, didn’t it? And she sounded just a bit desperate there at the end ...**

_I guess I’m more of a pervert than I thought,_ Akane thought wryly, then sighed and smiled softly. Moving back beside her sister, she reached over a hand to lift Kasumi’s chin, turning her head to allow Akane to look her in the eyes — those oh, so lonely eyes. “How could I refuse my big sister anything?” Akane asked, then leaned forward and gently, if somewhat stiffly, kissed her on the mouth.

Nabiki stared at the sight, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. _Like last night ... ?_ she thought in shock, as Kasumi teared up and pulled Akane into a tight hug. Finally, Nabiki shook herself and sank lower into the steaming water. “So,” she asked as nonchalantly as she could, “what _did_ happen last night?”

/\

“Damn!” Nabiki remarked after a beaming Kasumi gave a quick report of the previous night’s events, her arm once again around Akane. The youngest Tendo was blushing furiously and looking anywhere but at her middle sister across the furo. “Too bad I’m already engaged to Kuno — Tatewaki. If I wasn’t, I could join in and _really_ wear that poor boy out! Now that I think about it ...”

Her voice trailed off suggestively with a smirk, and a wild-eyed Akane’s gaze snapped over to lock on her face. “Y-y-you w-w-w-wouldn’t ...” Akane stammered out, and Nabiki’s smirk turned into chuckles, then outright laughter.

“Oh, you should have seen your face!” she crowed, ignoring Kasumi’s repressive frown. “No, even if I was willing to stab ... Tatewaki ... in the back like that after the way he’s treated me, not to mention all the money I’d lose, I doubt we could find a bed big enough. And even if we did, what room would it fit in?

“Speaking of beds, we’re going to need to get you three a new one, and move you all to a different room. Perhaps the room the Saotomes have been sleeping in? Then I can move into Akane’s room at the other end of the hallway — and add extra soundproofing. With the noise you guys were making, I had to turn up the volume on my headset so high it’s amazing I can hear anything this morning! So, who’ll be sleeping in the middle?”

“Enough, Nabiki,” Kasumi ordered sternly as Akane buried her face in her sister’s shoulder while once again her beet red blush spread down her neck and over her upper chest and back. “We can’t stay in here much longer,” Kasumi continued, her other arm going around Akane to pull her into a hug, “and there’s one more thing we need to discuss — do you think Ranma sleeping with me and Akane at the same time would be enough to satisfy his mother as to his manliness even with the curse?”

Sobering instantly, Nabiki frowned in thought as Akane looked up hopefully. After a few minutes, she shook her head. “I can’t really say,” the middle Tendo said. “It would certainly be enough for _me_ , but I wouldn’t have made such an idiotic pact in the first place. I suppose all we can do is ask Cologne what she thinks, she’s the only one that’s met the woman — no, wait, you did, too, Kasumi. I’d say you’re in a better position to answer that question than I am.”

Now it was Kasumi’s turn to frown thoughtfully. Finally, she shook her head. “I’ll ask Elder Cologne. But Ranma probably still needs to sleep with Ukyo and Shampoo — just to be safe,” she said regretfully. “I’ll call her after the three of you head to school.”

“And speaking of school, it’s past time we got out of here and got ready. We’ll break the good news about what Akane and I are willing to offer him at breakfast.”

With that, Kasumi gently disengaged from Akane and stepped out of the furo as she grabbed a fresh towel to dry off.


	12. Fallout and Surprises

Half-day over at school, Ranma walked out of the building in the same confused daze he had been in off and on all day, oddly both hyper-aware and barely noticing the raven-haired Tendo walking at his side. Once again, the thought of the bombshell dropped on him at breakfast floated to the surface of his mind. _Akane and Kasumi._ Both _Akane and Kasumi. They both want_ me _! I can understand Akane, a little. Sure, we fight, an’ yeah, I stick my foot in my mouth every so often, an’ maybe she isn’t as dedicated ta the Art, but we’re a lot alike. But_ Kasumi _?_ “Akane and Kasumi,” he murmured to himself.

Beside him, Akane glanced over at his bemused expression and rolled her eyes, fighting down a spurt of jealousy. _At least he mentioned me first, the idiot,_ she told herself firmly. _Kasumi’s right, we’re going to need her to civilize him. Besides, it isn’t like I’m going to get any of the other boys around here, assuming I notice one I actually want. Not after Kuno this morning._

Her mind turned back to the flowery speech Kuno had greeted them with when she and Ranma, and Nabiki, had arrived at Furinkan High. He had been truly humble, begging her forgiveness for the attacks he had encouraged, for the way that he had sought to come between her and her fiancé — and her true love, the pigtailed girl, essentially labeling her a lesbian in front of the watching students. And the audience had been larger than normal, as well. Nabiki was right, word of what had happened yesterday had spread like wildfire.

Akane had managed some damage control during the day. It was Kuno, after all, and she was able to point out that that by Ku Lon’s own admission she’d been drugged the previous day, and that she’d initially been passionately kissing a very male Ranma. Still, there are always those that will think the worst, and the atmosphere in the locker room during gym class had been _very_ uncomfortable.

Still, at least Kuno wasn’t harassing them anymore. Now she just had to figure out if it was worth the price.

The two distracted teenagers looked up at a shout from the front gate, to see Nabiki waving at them with one hand, the other hand holding her cell phone to her ear. Akane felt her heart sink at the sight. _If that’s Kasumi calling ... I don’t trust that old bitch, but if Kasumi thought that us two would be enough, she’d just wait ‘til we got home._ Please _don’t let that be Kasumi!_

The two joined Nabiki, and she shot her stiff-faced younger sister a sympathetic look. “It’s Kasumi,” she said, and Akane winced.

Ranma looked back and forth between the two girls, confused and increasingly worried. “What’s wrong?” he asked sharply. “Did somethin’ happen ta Kasumi?”

“No, no, Kasumi’s fine,” Nabiki hastily reassured him, then glanced around. “It’s about ... well, about last night, sort of.”

“Last night?” Ranma repeated, blushing.

Akane sighed. “Yeah, sort of. There’s ... well, there’s ...” She broke off, unable to finish, deadlocked as jealousy, paranoia, distrust of the other would be fiancées and fear of losing Ranma warred with her trust of Kasumi, the older sister that had finished raising her and would now be sharing her bed.

“There’s more waiting for you,” Nabiki finished after a moment, when Akane failed to continue, “at the Cat Café.”

“What’s Kasumi doin’ at the Cat Café?” a now totally confused pigtailed boy asked.

“She isn’t — Ukyo and Shampoo _are_ ,” the mercenary Tendo said dryly, and Ranma froze.

“No way, forget it!” he shouted, glaring at the middle Tendo. In a lower tone, he added, “I already got the girls I want, I don’t need any more.”

At those words, Akane’s deadlock broke. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and stroked Ranma’s arm. “Just this once, Ranma, please. It’s ... it’s necessary.”

Ranma had stiffened at the touch, then whirled to stare at Akane. “Akane, are ya sure?” he asked in bewilderment.

“Yes, Ranma, I’m sure.”

“Really sure?”

“Yes ...” Akane growled, stiffening.

“But ... I don’t ...”

“Will you just _go_!” the raven-haired girl shouted, then blushed as she looked around at the other teenagers trying to listen in without looking like they were listening in. “Ranma, take our word for it, it’s necessary, okay? We’ll be able to explain everything later. Just ... I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.”

Ranma gazed at his new lover for a long moment, then nodded. “All right, Akane, if ya say so. See ya later,” he said, then dashed across the road and leaped for the nearest rooftop and disappeared out of sight.

“Good job, little sis, I don’t think — I know I couldn’t have talked him into it without you,” Nabiki said. “Now, why don’t you head home and collect Kasumi? I have some business to take care of,” — _like paying off all the money you cost me, darn it!_ — “so I’ll meet you two at the Cat Café, okay?”

Akane nodded, still staring at the spot Ranma had last been visible, the warmth of Ranma’s trust and Nabiki’s praise pushing aside her worries about Ukyo and Xian Pu for the moment, and after a moment Nabiki shrugged and headed back toward the school.

With Nabiki gone, Sayuri and Yuka quickly moved in. “Okay, girlfriend, what was all that about?” Sayuri asked.

Akane shook herself out of her reverie and looked over at her two friends. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it again, and finally just stared at her friends. When the two simply waited patiently, Akane finally shook her head and chuckled. “Just the usual Ranma insanity,” she said as nonchalantly as she could as she started to walk toward home, her friends falling in beside her. “I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s just say ... Ranma’s mother is as weird as everyone else that shows up looking for the idiot.”

Then, casting about for some way to change the subject, she asked, “By the way, what happened to Ryoga after Ranma and I ... left, yesterday? I hope he’s still around, I _owe_ that boy ...” she finished with a heartfelt growl.

Sayuri and Yuka exchanged glances, Yuka blushing furiously while Sayuri smirked. “We’ll tell you when you tell us about what’s up with Ranma,” the ponytailed girl said. “Let’s just say ... some guys improve with sake.”

Akane stumbled, head whipping around to stare at her friends. Yuka was staring at her feet while Sayuri simply looked back, cocking an eyebrow as if daring Akane to make something of it. After a moment, Akane shook her head with a laugh. “All right, you got a deal. But now, I gotta get home. I’ll see you two Monday,” she said, and turned to run toward the dojo. She needed to collect Kasumi and get to the Cat Café as fast as she could — she wasn’t leaving Ranma alone with those conniving sluts any longer than she had to!


	13. Let's make some babies!

Ranma paused outside of Xian Pu’s room, brought up short by the wet, slurpy sounds and occasional soft moan he could faintly hear coming through the door. Before yesterday he would have had no idea what he was hearing, but now he knew ... somebody was having a really good time — or, from the differences in moans, some _bodies_. Ranma shook his head. _So, what lucky guy’s with the girls? Ryoga maybe? Maybe Cologne knows some way ta get him over his little blood pressure problem,_ he thought, _An’ why didn’t the ol’ ghoul mention him when she let me in downstairs, instead a’ just tellin’ me ta head up here?_

Briefly, he considered turning and walking away. He didn’t need this, even if Kasumi and Akane ... but the thought of Akane brought him up short. She’d been angry, maybe even jealous (and when had _that_ happened?), but she’d still insisted. And if even _she_ thought this was necessary ...

With a sigh, he knocked on the door.

Instantly, the sounds stopped. “Come in!” he heard Xian Pu call out, and he opened and stepped through the door, only to freeze at what he saw.

There was no other guy, just Xian Pu and Ukyo, completely nude, the latter rolling off a futon wide enough for two and away from the sixty-nine position the two had been in, blushing, both of them liberally coated around their mouths and chins with the other’s juices.

“Ah ... you ... I ... Ukyo?!” Ranma stammered out, and the chef’s blush deepened and spread even further, her hands making twitching motions toward her breasts and pubic mound as she fought the urge to cover herself.

Xian Pu sat up and glanced over at the girl beside her, then smiled and reached out, pulling Ukyo gently against her in a one-armed embrace. “You Japan people, so strange,” the purple-haired girl murmured. “It wonder you have babies at all.”

“Oh, like you have a lot of experience with guys!” Ukyo snorted, then paused, struck by a sudden thought. “You don’t ... do you?” she asked hesitantly.

Xian Pu nodded instantly. “Of course. At village boys try get girls they want in bed, pregnant. Girls try enjoy boys, not get pregnant, have more fun. If girl get pregnant, marry father.” Looking at the stunned looks on Ranma’s and Ukyo’s faces, she shrugged. “Is test,” she explained. “Can boy sweet talk way into bed? Can girl avoid baby? If she has baby, is father good, strong man? Longer girl take to have baby, better father is, higher status of girl.”

“But ... but what about love?” Ukyo protested.

Xian Pu shrugged again. “It happen, though love not liked by elders — can cause problems. But if happen, that also test. Do boy and girl wait to have baby, even if only sleep with each other? Do they pretend make mistake, or just do it?”

“What about if the guy is married?” Ranma asked, and Xian Pu frowned.

“That very bad — girls only allowed sleep with men not already married. Of course, that change after girl marries, has someone to raise babies, then she sleep with anybody she wants, not matter.

“But we not here to talk about village,” she continued with a broad grin, standing and straddling the futon. Glancing back and forth between the other two, she asked, “So, who go first?”

The other two teenagers blushed, avoiding each other’s gaze, and Xian Pu forced herself not to react at the mix of desire and despair in her new battle sister’s eyes. _This is not good. If too good a time, Ukyo may chase_ Ai _— Ranma, after all. But if too bad a time, she’ll regret this all her life._

The purple-haired Amazon gazed thoughtfully at the other two for a moment, then smiled. “Shampoo know,” she said. Lying back down on one side of the futon, she waved to Ukyo to join her. “Battle sister, come here, lie down on Shampoo.”

Confused, Ukyo started to obey, only to stop at Xian Pu’s protest. “No, not on back, on front, face to face,” Xian Pu instructed. As Ukyo obeyed, the Amazon glanced at Ranma. “Clothes stay cleaner if not on,” she commented.

“Uh, where are the condoms?” Ranma asked.

“No have any. No worry, not needed,” Xian Pu replied. Ranma looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and as he shook away his embarrassment and started to disrobe she turned her attentions back to the brown-haired girl now lying on top of her, their breasts crushed together, and pulled her into a deep kiss.

A nervous Ukyo relaxed at the kiss, even as her new lover’s hands started running gently up and down her back. “This be good, you see,” Xian Pu whispered when the two broke apart for air, and she smiled down at her formal rival.

Suddenly, she felt hands on her hips, lifting them up, positioning her so that her knees straddled the Amazon. She gasped, and Xian Pu’s hands stopped their stroking as she hugged the brown-haired girl against her. Then what must have been the head of Ranma’s erection was rubbing along her folds, still damp from her and Xian Pu’s play, and the chef buried her face in Xian Pu’s shoulder with a moan as she felt herself stretching as never before to accommodate anything but fingers for the first time.

Ranma groaned at the wet, hot pressure engulfing his manhood as it slowly sank into his oldest friend. _Easy, Ranma,_ he thought, _remember last night an’ Akane. Gentle does it._ Then his pubic hair was pressed up against her ass, and he paused for a minute.

Finally, he pulled back and started to slowly pump in and out of Ukyo’s sopping cleft, picking up speed as she started to moan in time with the wet slaps of his thrusts. Then another memory from last night came to him, he reached one hand around and under, and Ukyo’s head tossed back with a hissed shriek as a finger found her clit and started rubbing.

Ukyo had been almost there when Ranma had knocked, and even the embarrassment of him walking in on her with Xian Pu hadn’t completely shaken her out of it. Now, as Xian Pu reached up a hand to the back of her head and pulled her back down into another breathtaking kiss, tongues intertwining and dueling for dominance, the new sensations from the cock pistoning into her combined with the now familiar feeling of someone else’s finger rubbing against her pleasure button sent her over the edge and she screamed her orgasm into Xian Pu’s mouth.

Ranma may not have been as keyed up as the girls when he walked in, but he’d spent the entire day thinking about Akane and Kasumi — the pleasure they’d shared the night before and the offer they’d made him that morning — and it hadn’t taken him long to be brought to the edge, as well. Ukyo’s vagina clamping down on him like a vise was all it took to set him off, and he groaned deep in his chest as his seed exploded into Ukyo, to spill out and ooze down her inner thighs. He gave a few more thrusts, then slowly eased back until his softening member cropped out following by a slight gush of semen.

Ukyo as shaking with her orgasm, held in place by her battle sister’s arm. Slowly, it eased off, until she was lying limp as a rag along the other girl. “Kami, but that was great,” she murmured.

Underneath her, Xian Pu smiled as she hugged her lover. _Good — a great first time, but it’ll be_ my _face she remembers,_ she thought. For a few minutes she simply lay there and listened as the other two’s gasping breaths eased down to normal. Finally, she released Ukyo from the hug. “Good, glad Ukyo liked it. But now, battle sister heavy,” she said. “Roll to side, please?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Ukyo said, instantly rolling to the side.

Xian Pu sat up and looked down along the other girl, her smile turning into a grin. “Ukyo now mess. Been long long since Shampoo help girl get clean,” she purred. Slipping down along Ukyo, she spread the chef’s legs and lay down between them, her lower half off the futon, and spread her own legs. Taking a deep breath to take in the scent rising from Ukyo’s soaked and seeping cleft, she glanced back over her shoulder at her former husband (whatever Amazon law might have insisted). “ _Airen_ ... Ranma do Shampoo when ready?” she asked coyly. Ranma nodded, and she turned her attention back to Ukyo’s womanhood even as she lifted her hips slightly and slipped several fingers up into her own love channel and began to slowly pump them in and out. Easing down and running her tongue along her inner thighs to scoop up the white fluid that had escaped its new home, Ukyo groaned in again rising pleasure as Xian Pu dove in between her folds and up inside her as deep as her tongue could reach.

Ranma stared at the scene, and his partially softened manhood quickly regained its vigor at the sight, along with the Ukyo’s renewed moans and the slurping sounds caused by Xian Pu’s attentions. Quickly moving between Xian Pu’s legs, her began to lift her hips as he had Ukyo’s.

Xian Pu raised her head at the feeling and looked back. “Ranma, no,” she ordered, and he froze at the order.

“No?” he repeated, and she shook her head.

“No, not needed,” she explained. “Lie down on top of Shampoo, keep chest off with arms.”

Ranma obeyed, then gasped as the hand that had been pumping into Xian Pu’s cleft grasped his cock and guided its head into position. “There, now Ranma do rest,” Xian Pu said, then gasped as he pushed himself forward and up into her. “Oh, yes, that feel good,” she breathed. “Been so long, Shampoo so so miss this ...”

“Sh-Shampoo ...” Ukyo gasped, thrusting her hips up toward the mouth they missed, and as Ranma picked up the pace Xian Pu turned her attention back to her lover’s sex, gasping and moaning even as Ranma’s thrusts pushed her face deeper into Ukyo’s crotch.

The three were quickly gasping for breath as the minutes passed, even as Xian Pu abandoned her attempts to pleasure Ukyo with her tongue, instead lifting herself up slightly with one arm even as her other hand replaced her tongue.

But the position she and Ranma were in wasn’t the best for stimulating her, and Ranma, now slamming into her like a jackhammer, finally again felt himself boil over and explode into yet another girl. Gasping for air, he carefully rolled to the side and onto his back, then looked over at Xian Pu. “Sorry,” he murmured.

The pleasure-haze in Xian Pu’s eyes began fading at the lack of Ranma’s cock pistoning into her, and she finally smiled at the crestfallen boy. “No worry,” she managed to get out. “Take clothes, get shower. By now, Tendos maybe downstairs.”

Ranma’s eyes widened. “Akane an’ Kasumi are _here_?” he squeaked, stiffening.

Xian Pu’s smile widened, remembering what her great-grandmother had told her about the phone conversation with Kasumi. “If not here yet, will be soon,” she replied. “No keep them waiting, girls no like.”

Ranma hastily grabbed up his clothes and practically ran from the room. Xian Pu sighed pensively as she watched him leave. _Maybe better this way, more fair to Ukyo,_ she thought, then turned back to the other girl.

“Now that done, where were we?” she asked.

Ukyo was breathing deeply, sweat-soaked from her own interrupted pleasure, but with a serious look on her face. “Do you really think we’re pregnant now?” she asked hopefully.

“Not yet, but will be,” Xian Pu replied, and Ukyo gasped as the Amazon’s hand, several fingers still up inside her tunnel, resumed its pumping.

“Wait,” she gasped. “It’s ... it’s my turn to ... oh, kami ... to clean _you_ up.”

Xian Pu paused. “Ukyo sure? Not all girls like taste of man seed,” she warned.

“Well, Sugar, there’s only one way to find out, so come here,” Ukyo responded, and Xian Pu grinned as she moved up to position her nether lips and the life-creating liquid oozing out of them and coating her inner thighs over her lover’s face.


	14. A Mother and Son Reunion

“My mother?” For a long moment Ranma stared at Kasumi in stunned amazement, then looked around the table in the middle of the Cat Café at other Tendo sisters and Ku Lon.

Ku Lon nodded back. “Yes, Ranma, your mother.”

The room was silent for a time, except for a particularly loud squeal from where Ukyo and Xian Pu were enjoying their shower upstairs. Finally, Ranma shook his head. “It can’t be — she’s dead, she must be! Pop never talked about her, whenever I’d ask he’d just get an odd look and pile on the trainin’.”

Kasumi shook her head, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on Ranma’s arm. “No, Ranma, she’s alive. She visited the dojo yesterday. She must have still been in the family room with Father and Uncle Genma when you and Akane got home from school.”

The blood drained from Ranma’s and Akane’s faces as they exchanged glances. “The woman with Pop/Dad,” they chorused.

“You’d mentioned her before,” Akane continued, “but I didn’t ... didn’t realize ...”

“You had other concerns,” Nabiki said with a smirk, ignoring Akane’s glare.

“I ... okay, so that was my mom, they got hit by the same drug as me an’ Akane?” Ranma asked. Kasumi nodded. “So where is she now, why didn’t she stay? Was Pop the only one she wanted ta see?”

“Oh my, no!” Kasumi instantly disagreed, “she asked for both of you when she arrived. I told her that you and Akane were on a training trip together, and after she, Father and Uncle Genma recovered from Kodachi-san’s drug I suggested they spend the time waiting for you to return at Auntie Nodoka’s home, renewing their acquaintance. They were ... happy to go along with my suggestion, and it gave gave us the time we needed to take you in bed.”

“Actually, Kodachi wasn’t responsible for the drug this time,” Nabiki stated. “It was Shampoo, without Cologne’s knowledge, right, Cologne?”

Ku Lon raised an eyebrow as everyone else except Ranma turned to stare at her. “You are right, child, the ‘drug’ this time was a rare herb from the village. How did you know?”

Nabiki shrugged. “It was fairly obvious, once I had free time to think it over. Ukyo and Shampoo showed up at school dressed to kill, and Shampoo at least had to know by now that skimpy clothing wouldn’t get them anywhere with Ranma, so they had to expect the drug. Only, it didn’t work the way they must have expected, with Ranma focused totally on Akane, and Kasumi didn’t end up sleeping with our parents — you would have known better. Am I right?”

Ku Lon nodded. “That was very well reasoned, child, you are right — the herb increases desire, but for one that one desires already. It is useless against someone that doesn’t want you to begin with.”

Ranma had been ignoring the discussion, continuing to stare in bewilderment at the matronly Tendo sister. Breaking in, he asked, “Kasumi, why did ya lie? And what does keepin’ me from meetin’ my mother have to do with me sleepin’ with all a’ you girls?”

Ku Lon sighed. “Ranma, I’m afraid that your parents were romantic idiots when they were younger. Of course, ‘romantic idiot’ and ‘youth’ are fairly synonymous, but they took it to extremes.” The Amazon elder chuckled at Ranma’s baffled look, and explained what she had learned from her meeting with the Saotome matriarch.

By the time she was finished, Ranma was shaking his head in hopeful disbelief. “Okay, so not just Pop is an idiot. But ya don’t think she would really go through with it, do ya? I mean, a seppuku contract made so far back I can’t even remember it?”

“Yes, Ranma, she would,” Kasumi said. “I spoke with her during lunch yesterday, before the drug set in. She was eager to see you, she loves you dearly and the regular letters Uncle Genma sent her have not filled the empty space in her life left by your absence. However, she was desperate for word of your ‘manliness’, and Elder Cologne is right: while my descriptions of your strength, courage, and generosity of spirit were all welcome, it was your sexual prowess she most wanted to learn of. Of course, at the time you didn’t have any so your father and I had to resort to hints and innuendos, but she latched onto those hints and my blushes like a lifeline.

“However, now hints and innuendos won’t be necessary,” she added with a fresh blush. “Between me and Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo, you are everything she could hope for. Not even your Jusenkyo curse should be a problem.”

“So all a’ you girls slept with me ta protect me from my mom?!” Ranma asked, outraged. “But ... but what about your own honor? It’s not right givin’ that up just ta —”

Breaking in, Nabiki asserted, “There’s no ‘just’ about it. Between an ‘honor’ they were going to lose eventually anyway and your life, there’s no contest. Besides, didn’t you notice last night that Kasumi wasn’t a virgin?” Ranma froze, and the middle Tendo nodded. “And while Akane probably was” — the youngest Tendo nodded vigorously — “your first time with her was because of Shampoo’s addition to our lunch, so there’s no dishonor on your part there. For the other two ...” Turning to Ku Lon, she asked, “do you know when Shampoo lost her virginity?”

Ku Lon shrugged. “No, not really, but I do know it was at least a year and a half ago, perhaps more.”

“And from the noise she and Ukyo were making just now, I’m guessing Ranma wasn’t Ukyo’s first, either?”

“No, the two had quite a time of it yesterday, probably about the time Akane and Ranma were,” Ku Lon said.

Kasumi nodded. “You see, Ranma, none of us were ‘dishonored’ by you, if you want to call it that.” Blush deepening, she added, “And we didn’t do it just to protect you. I’ve ... I’ve been daydreaming about you for some time, wishing ... and from the way Akane reacted to the herb, I’d say she’s felt the same.” She quirked an eyebrow at her youngest sister, and Akane reluctantly nodded agreement. Turning back to a slowly relaxing Ranma, Kasumi said, “You see, Ranma, none of us did anything we didn’t want to.

“So now, I can call and let our parents know you’re home. Unless you’d rather wait for a bit?” she inquired with a concerned look.

“I ... no! Call her up, let her know I’ll be home,” Ranma ordered.

/oOo\

Nodoka, on her knees straddling her husband, hissed at a mixture of pain and pleasure as she felt his cock once again slip between her petals and up into her love canal as she sank down onto his reclining body. As she bottomed out, her sweat-slicked upper thighs slipping against her husband’s hips, she looked up and smiled at the second cock presented for her pleasure by a standing Soun also straddling his old friend. Leaning forward, the redhead licked around the now familiar cockhead, then let it slip past her lips as she took as much of Souns cock into her mouth as far as she comfortably could. Both men groaned as she simultaneously sucked and began undulating her hips in what was rapidly becoming one of her favorite positions out of all the ones they’d tried over the past twenty-four hours.

And a very exciting twenty-four hours it had been, too, with almost nonstop sex from the time they’d arrived at her home to now, with breaks only for sleep and eating, and the occasional rest break. It had been during the rest breaks that they’d had time to talk. She’d had Genma’s letters, of course, so she knew much of what had happened on his training journey, but now she could actually ask the questions she’d wanted to before and couldn’t, fill in the holes and get additional details. And of course, Soun’s life since before the training trip began was unknown territory for the woman of the trio.

Even as Nodoka began bouncing her hips, the wet slaps of sex-slickened flesh meeting sex-slickened flesh echoing through her family room, a niggling thought rode the pain to intrude slightly through her gathering pleasure haze — in all the moments they’d talked, Genma and Soun had said almost nothing about her son. Whenever they’d get to the point of providing real details, the two men would be ready for another round, eager to prove yet again how manly they were.

And proven it they had, over and over, to the point that, even after her long years of drought, Nodoka was getting sated. And the two men’s groans were beginning to sound a little odd....

_Perhaps ... I should suggest ... we take a break ... and return ... to the Tendo home ... let me get ... acquainted with ... Soun’s daughters,_ Nodoka thought through shots of pleasure radiating through her body. Then all coherent thought faded as long missed and once again familiar pleasure rose to wash it away.

/\

As the pleasure-haze faded, a sound that had been at the edges of her awareness finally registered — her telephone, out in the hall! Levering herself up from where she’d collapsed onto her husband, Nodoka smiled down at him as she clambered to her feet, ignoring the liquid oozing down her legs. “You just relax, husband, I’ll be right back,” she said, and staggered out toward the phone as Genma sat up and Soun fell back into a chair, the two men exchanging despairing glances.

“Moshi moshi.” Nodoka stiffened. “Kasumi-san, it is good to hear from you ... Yes, your father is very good, indeed ... My son has returned?! Wonderful! We will be there as soon as we can ... Good, I will see you soon, goodbye.”

Hanging up the phone, the middle-aged red-haired woman rushed back to the family room, (wincing slightly at the pull of overused muscles and slightly raw flesh in the process). “My son has returned!” she all but shouted in her happiness (carefully ignoring a niggling touch of worry). “We must return to the dojo now!”

/oOo\

In the family room of the Tendo home, three sisters and their fiancé, lover, and future brother-in-law, respectively, waited patiently. Well, sorta kinda.

For the third time in half an hour, Ranma jerked to his feet and began to pace. Akane flinched at the movement, while Nabiki just sighed. Kasumi, of course, maintained her normal unflappable calm, her mask of serenity firmly in place — perhaps too firmly.

“Ranma, sit down!” Akane growled. “What is wrong with you, anyway?”

“Yes, little brother, you’re not normally this — intense. That’s usually Akane’s thing,” Nabiki said from where she sat to the side, smirking slightly when Akane turned to glare at her.

Ranma stopped pacing, reaching up to tug on his pigtail, grinning sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Normally when I get like this I practice katas, but I can’t get all sweaty right now.”

“So sit!” Nabiki retorted. “If you can’t relieve your nerves, there’s no point in passing them on to us.”

Ranma sighed, but sat as instructed and the sisters did their best to ignore the way he fidgeted.

/\

Nodoka walked along the sidewalk toward the Tendo home, moving as fast as the restrictive formal kimono she’d insisted on wearing permitted, the bundled Saotome Family sword clutched to her chest. The tension coiling in her gut grew stronger with every step, until she wondered if she’d become physically ill. Genma and Soun easily kept pace slightly behind her, occasionally exchanging worried glances but keeping silent.

Then they were _finally_ at the Tendo dojo! Soun stepped around Nodoka and opened the door, motioning her forward as he called out their arrival. An unfamiliar voice responded with “In here!” from the direction of the family room. Nodoka rushed (or tried to, anyway) toward the room, doing her best not to hyperventilate.

And then she was stepping into the family room and a raven-haired pigtailed teenage boy was standing there beside Kasumi and two other girls Nodoka didn’t recognize but they didn’t matter because the boy had to be Ranma and ...

Ranma was slammed back several steps as the gasping auburn-haired woman that looked disturbingly like a mature version of his girl form slammed into him, her arms around him and squeezing tight. “Mom,” he whispered as his own arms circled her waist.

/\

The two families sat around the low family room table, Ranma flanked by Akane and Kasumi, Nodoka, wiping at her tearstained face with a napkin, sitting across from him with Genma and Soun on each side, Nabiki off to the side where she could see everyone (and not incidentally reach both her father and younger sister). The middle Tendo watched as Nodoka focused on her son, barely aware of the men on either side of her. The older woman was tensing, tightening, any minute now ...

Nodoka took a deep breath, then forced a smile. “Ranma, your father has only told me a little about you — we’ve been ... otherwise occupied.” She blushed lightly, hands reaching out to grasp those of her husband and the Tendo patriarch. “So tell me about yourself, please.”

“Uh, sure, what d’ya want to know?” Ranma asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“Well ... these lovely ladies, how well do you know them?” Nodoka responded, glancing at the Tendo sisters. “From what Kasumi-chan had to say yesterday, you’re very close.”

Ranma, Kasumi and Akane all blushed, Kasumi’s eyes dropping to the table as the other two exchanged glances. Ranma opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Nabiki sighed to herself. _I knew it! Akane’s still too hung up on sex, Kasumi’s too bashful, and Ranma’s not willing to boast about something that’s not exactly true. Looks like it’s up to me ... too bad the stakes are so high, this could be fun to play with._ Clearing her throat to get Nodoka’s attention, she said, “You’re asking the wrong people. Ranma doesn’t like to boast about his conquests — it can give the girls a bad reputation — and my sisters are too shy.”

“Oh? But not you?” Nodoka asked, trying to keep a worried frown off her face.

“No, not me,” Nabiki agreed. “Mind, I can’t speak from personal experience, I’m engaged and Ranma’s too honorable to pursue someone else’s girl, but from the amount of noise those three were making last night I’d say they were definitely enjoying it.” The other three teenagers all blushed, Soun swayed slightly as the blood drained from his face, and Nodoka tensed. Nabiki carefully kept a smirk off her face. _Okay, so maybe there’s room for some fun here, after all._ “And from the sounds being made by the two girls Ranma banged today at the Cat Café, I’d say they enjoyed it, too,” the middle Tendo continued.

Nodoka relaxed ... a bit. “Hmmm, my manly son is going to need mistresses to keep him satisfied ...” she mused.

Akane stiffened. “Forget it, not happening,” she growled. “Ranma’s mine!”

Now Naibiki’s smirk finally surfaced. “Don’t you mean ‘ours’, little sis? You _are_ sharing him with big sis, after all.” Then as the trio’s blushes grew even deeper, she added, “Besides, those two aren’t available, anyway. They’re already in a relationship — with each other.” Nabiki watched Nodoka closely as her words hit home. _Let’s see — there’s the outrage at Ukyo’s and Shampoo’s implied lesbianism, confusion at what Ranma’s doing in bed with two lesbians, dawning elation that her son’s manly enough that even lesbians can’t resist him — time!_

“Of course, Ranma has something of an unfair advantage, what with his Jusenkyo curse,” Nabiki added nonchalantly, then suppressed a grin at Nodoka’s confused expression. Glancing over, she did smile slightly despite her best efforts at Genma’s panicked expression.

“Curse? What curse?” the older woman asked.

“That’s not im—” Genma got out before Nabiki interrupted him.

“What, Uncle Genma didn’t show you? I’m surprised he managed to avoid cold water a full day. Of course,” she added thoughtfully, “he’s never seemed to have the problem with getting splashed that Ranma has. Perhaps because he’s made his peace with it and Ranma hasn’t?”

Now Nodoka looked completely lost, and Nabiki shrugged, picked up her cup of now-cold tea and threw it into Genma’s face. His wife suddenly found herself being pushed to the side and turned to look, then scrambled to the side with a shriek of panic at finding herself beside a giant panda, ending up in Soun’s lap. Genma immediately backed off and turned toward the doorway, only to find Ranma standing between him and the door, rising from where his leap across the table had deposited him. Before Genma could brace himself a solid kick knocked him back into the room. “Forget it, Pop, no way are ya runnin’ away from this one,” the pigtailed boy growled.

The panda quickly rolled back to his feet and whirled away from his son toward the open wall window and the yard beyond it, only to find Kasumi standing in his way. “Saotome-san! It is most unseemly for you to run away and leave the children to deal with this. Sit down if you wish to be welcome again in this house,” she said sternly.

The panda stood staring for a few moments at the true mistress of the household, stunned at her abrupt assumption of her true authority, then slowly sat back down, ignoring Akane’s growl and angry glare from where she still sat across the table.

Kasumi continued to gaze sternly at him for a long moment, then glanced over, expression softening, at where a shaking Nodoka was clasped in the Tendo patriarch’s arms. Dropping to her knees, Kasumi smiled comfortingly at the panicked woman. “Quite a shock seeing that for the first time, isn’t it? Don’t worry, whatever his form that’s still your husband. I’ll fetch some sake and hot water to prove it, all right?” Finally, Nodoka drew a deep breath and nodded, and Kasumi rose and hurried from the room.

/\

Nodoka poured hot water from the tea kettle over her husband’s head yet again and stared as the panda’s form melted into that of her husband yet again, then sat back shaking her head in amazement. “That such magic truly exists in this world — amazing!” Then, turning to Ranma, she said, “But Nabiki said that you also have a curse — one that gives you an advantage over other men. What is it?”

Ranma froze, fidgeted in place, then finally sighed and, reaching out for the pitcher of water his mother had been using on Genma, he closed his eyes and poured. The now split-second sensation of his entire body shifting and reshaping like a bag loose sand squeezed in the middle and molded swept through him, and Nodoka stared, frozen in shock, mouth fallen open, as the now redheaded girl that looked enough like her younger self to be her sister put down the pitcher, eyes fixed to the table. Akane glanced between the two, then reached out and pulled Ranma against her, staring challengingly at her future mother-in-law.

Nodoka finally closed her mouth and sat back slightly, face troubled as Nabiki watched. _Now for the distraction,_ the middle Tendo thought, _wait for it, wait for it...._ Finally Nodoka straightened, mouth opening ... _Now!_ “Yeah, turning into a girl must give Ranma real insight into what a girl wants. Maybe that’s why he’s had real trouble dealing with his curse, considering how the guys at school must be jealous and all,” Nabiki tossed out breezily. “Still, I guess he’s done rather well. I suppose all the other crap his dad’s put him through got him used to it.”

Nodoka paused, mouth still open, then turned to Nabiki. “Other ‘crap’?” she asked, mouth twisting with distaste at the word.

“Oh, sure,” Nabiki said. “Let’s see, how many times has Genma sold you for as little as a meal?” she asked the redheaded girl.

Ranma shrugged, from where she leaned against Akane. “Dunno,” she muttered.

“Then there’s the crazy training methods — none of them match the catfist training, but a lot come pretty close. Really, it’s amazing he lived long enough to visit Jusenkyo!”

“Catfist training?” Nodoka slowly repeated.

/\

The four teenagers listened to the sound of Nodoka screaming for Genma to come back and face his punishment like a man coming to them from the yard, Nabiki reclining on her back and smirking at the ceiling while the other three girls stared at the kimono-clad woman inexpertly waving around the sword she’d pulled out of the bundle she’d brought with her, Soun beside her ducking the wild swings even as he begged her to calm down. “Well, that’s that — deal signed, sealed, and witnessed,” the mercenary Tendo said, laughing softly. “Damn, that was fun!”


	15. New Friends and Lovers

Elsewhere, a large, unkempt (if unusually clean), fanged boy wearing a black and yellow bandana sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a small city (not a city whose name he could remember, though the odd tower looking sort of like a flying saucer on top of several very long bent poles looked familiar). He was watching the sun set. Ryoga had found that he rather liked sunrises and sunsets, perhaps he so rarely got to see them — in his wanderings, night and day could fluctuate wildly, and getting to see either was only occasionally a matter of simply waiting long enough.

As he sat enjoying the view, he frowned slightly. Something seemed off — something was missing. He felt ... light. Like a weight had vanished from off his shoulders. His simple enjoyment of the sunset faded as he focused inward. Then his eyes widened — he hadn’t thought of Ranma or Akane in hours. And he hadn’t been feeling angry, or depressed, or jealous....

Instead, his mind had focused on the faces of two girls that he’d never met and barely seen until the previous day, and a bubble of a barely remembered emotion had filled his core as he’d wandered almost unaware of his surroundings through deserts and jungle and icescapes to end up here.

_Is this what it’s like to be happy?_ Ryoga wondered, even as his mind turned to the events of the previous day.

/oOo\

Consciousness slowly seeped back into Ryoga as he once again became aware of his surroundings a little at a time. Let’s see, he had found his way to Furinkan High School and seen that dishonorable betrayer and general scum of the earth that for some reason Akane cared for taking advantage of her in the yard—at least, that was what he _thought_ was happening. He’d just started to move to save her, when Nabiki had shouted something about the crazy samurai-in-his-own-mind Kuno going crazy (how could you tell?) and attacking Akane. He’d looked over and seen ...

The part-time piglet fought to keep images of Shampoo and Ukyo and the state of dress (or rather, undress) their fight had left them in out of his mind, even as he felt slight trickles of what was probably blood run from his nose down both sides of his face. Desperately, he sought something — anything — else to focus on and realized that someone — no, two people, girls from the sounds of their voices — were standing beside him.

“Are you sure you really want this one to be your first?” the first voice asked. Her voice was confident, assured, strong — someone he would instinctively trust at his side in a fight if she was any sort of martial artist. “He isn’t exactly a prize — the way he’s blamed everything wrong with his life on Ranma is proof enough of that, and the way he treated Akane!”

“Yes, I’m sure.” That was the second voice, softer, diffident, and somehow gentler. “I know, he’s treated Akane badly, but it wasn’t because he’s a pervert. I mean, just look at him, flat on his back, out like a light just because he saw a couple of girls wearing tatters of clothing! No, whatever reason he was pretending to be Akane’s pet, it isn’t because he wanted to spy on her when she wasn’t decent. And from everything Akane’s told us he’s gentle, and caring, and really pays attention to the girl he’s with. And he’s certainly strong and skilled.”

“Yeah, so long as you don’t splash him with some cold water or have a girl flash a little skin,” the first voice replied drily. “Still, if he’s the one you want I might be able to arrange it.”

Ryoga cracked open his eyes to find himself looking at two faces, girls kneeling by him he vaguely remembered, one with light brown hair falling past her shoulders, the other with dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, both cute. Hadn’t they said something about Akane ... ? Then he remembered, he’d seen them with Akane several times when his wanderings had brought him in contact with her — they must be her friends. But what had they been saying about him, being first, wanting him ... like anyone would want him after Akane’s rejection.

He groaned slightly at the thought, and the two girls looked down at him. “Oh, you’re awake,” the one with the dark brown hair said, smiling — the one with the confident, no nonsense voice. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” he replied as he sat up, the two girls leaning out of the way. He quickly looked around, but other than the three of them the schoolyard was empty. “Where is everybody, is Akane okay?” he hastily asked.

“Akane’s fine,” the girl with the light brown hair assured him — the soft-spoken one. “She left with Ranma. Kuno left with Nabiki, and Ukyo and that Chinese girl that likes to make holes in walls — Shampoo, I think, what an odd name — left with the old woman that runs the Cat Café. I’m Yuka, and this” — nodding to her ponytailed companion — “is Sayuri. We’re friends of Akane. We volunteered to stay here and look after you when the lunch break ended.”

Ryoga slowly stood up, offering a hand each to the two girls to help them up and looking around for the backpack he’d been wearing when starting his charge, finding it lying a few feet to the side. Picking it up and slinging it on, he turned to the two girls, rubbing his neck with a bashful expression on his face. “Well, I didn’t really need anyone looking after me, I can take care of myself ... but thanks.”

Sayuri shook her head ruefully. “Right, you could have looked after yourself just fine, flat on your back, out like a light at the sight of a little — okay, a lot — of skin. I swear, you martial artists ... Listen, since nobody knew how long you’d be unconscious, the two of us are basically released from school for the afternoon. How’d you like to come to my house and get something to eat? You can use our washer and dryer, get your clothes clean — and _you_ could use a bath, too.” Yuka nodded her agreement eagerly.

_They want to help me? To spend time with me? But why ... ?_ Unbidden, the memory of Akane the night she learned of his curse, that he was her pet P-chan, rose in his mind and he opened his mouth to refuse their help as he was once again engulfed by the lonely depression that had haunted him ever since. “Sure, I’d be happy to, thank you.” _What? Did I say that?_

Sayuri grinned as Yuka’s face lit up. “Great, let’s go!” the beaming girl enthused and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the school gate. Sayuri fell in place beside them, grinning broadly.

/\

Trying hard not to blush, Ryoga sat on a couch in the dining/family room of Sayuri’s family’s apartment, nervously clutching the towel that was his only article of clothing at the moment with one hand while he drank — make that gulped — from the cup of sake Sayuri had offered — was it his third, fifth? He couldn’t remember. “And then Akane formed her hammer and Ranma grabbed me as he ran out of the room with her chasing us screaming that we were both perverts and she’d hammer us like she’d never hammered anyone before. Ranma was naked and in his cursed form, so he couldn’t escape by running out of the house so Akane must have ended up chasing us through every room in it before her sisters got her calmed down.”

He closed his eyes as, unbidden, the image of what he’d seen in the school yard just hours before came back to him, Akane and Ranma-chan locked in a kiss, their hands underneath each other’s shirt, and Ryoga’s nervousness vanished, washed away by a fresh wave of depression. “And now she’s forgiven him, was even kissing his girl form in public,” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper as tears began leaking from his eyelids. “Once again, Ranma wins and I’m left all alone, with nothing.”

Suddenly, he felt the couch shift under the weight of one of the girls sitting next to him. His eyes flew open in shock, head turning to find a sober Yuka beside him. “I’m afraid you never had a chance, Ryoga,” she said softly. “Akane would deny it in a heartbeat, but she’s bisexual — Ranma’s perfect for her.”

“B-b-bi-bisexual?”

“Yes — she’s attracted to both boys and girls.”

“I know what it means, but — Akane!? She _hates_ boys, thinks they’re all perverts! Bisexual?”

Sayuri spoke up from where she was sitting beside the dining table. “Oh, that’s just because of the Hentai Horde and that idiot, Kuno. But Ranma’s proven he’s safe — if it wasn’t for some spillover from her fear of the Hentai Horde and Kuno, or her insistence that lesbians are perverts, she’d have hauled him into bed long ago.”

Ryoga stared at her, desperately trying to convince himself she was wrong, but suddenly some of Akane’s ramblings from when she was spilling her heart out to him alone in her bedroom had new meaning — meaning not even, or rather especially, Akane hadn’t understood at the time. Sayuri winced in sympathy at his despair-filled eyes, then rose and refilled his cup with the last of the sake from the bottle at her elbow, then took the cup when he emptied it with a few deep gulps, grabbed her and Yuka’s empty cups, and disappeared into the kitchen with them and the empty bottle.

Ryoga was staring unseeing at the minimalist print on the wall across the room, when a hand gently grasped his chin and turned his head to face Yuka’s sober face. “Ryoga, why did you do it — pretend to be Akane’s pet?” the light brown-haired girl asked.

For a moment, he considered just stalking out of the apartment, getting away from the questions, the memories — but the memories wouldn’t go away and he was only wearing a towel. Still, she was cute, and harmless, and she wasn’t shouting at him or calling him a pervert, she actually seemed to care, as hard as that was to believe ...

“Because ... do you know what it’s like, to go from being a strong, trained warrior to a weak, helpless animal with a splash of cold water — one people like to eat?” he asked bitterly. “And then there’s my sense of direction ... I’m alone all the time, no one to help out if I find myself in trouble, possible death a splash of cold water away. And then Akane found me as a piglet and took me in, kept me safe, trusted me with her thoughts — she loved me.”

Yuka glanced over to where her friend was standing in the doorway to the kitchen and nodded, and Sayuri nodded back with an oddly bittersweet smile. “Actually, you’re wrong,” the ponytailed girl said. “She didn’t love you, she loved P-chan — and P-chan was a lie, if a well-meaning one, and that’s not what you need.” She sauntered toward the two sitting on the couch. “What you really need is someone that knows all about you but loves you anyway.”

Ryoga stared at her in disbelief, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead she was focused on the girl beside him ... and then the same soft touch from before again captured his chin to turn his head, and for a moment he was staring into gentle brown eyes before Yuka leaned in to gently kiss him.

Ryoga’s head whirled from more than the sake he’d drunk, as Yuka’s kiss full on his lips continued and grew deeper. His mouth dropped open slightly in shock, and then his shock deepened as her tongue slipped through his parted lips to probe his mouth. Even through the towel-clad boy’s shock, his own tongue responded, entwining with Yuka’s for a brief moment before she broke the kiss and sat back, smiling.

“I ... y-you ... wh-what ... ?” Ryoga stammered incoherently.

“Ryoga, would you be my ... my boyfriend?” Yuka asked, even as her cheeks tinged red.

“Me?! But you ... why?” the Lost Boy asked. Even as the words escaped his mouth, his mind flashed back to the overheard conversation when he’d first woken up in the school yard — gentle ... caring ... pays attention ... strong ... skilled ... in spite of the way he’d treated Akane ... _She really likes me, in spite of the way I acted!_ he thought in amazement. Before Yuka had a chance to respond to his question, with partially sake-inspired courage he hastily added, “Sure! Sure, I’d be happy to be your boyfriend.” Even as Yuka’s face lit up, Ryoga reluctantly warned, “But with my sense of direction, I’m not going to be around very often.”

“Oh, that’s fine! I know all about it, I don’t mind,” Yuka hastily responded, then fell silent, her eyes dropping as her blush grew even deeper. She started to fidget, her fingers playing a bit with the fringe on the couch cover. Ryoga stared, baffled, then glanced over at Sayuri to find her now leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen entrance, the same gentle, bittersweet smile from earlier still on her face.

As if his glance was a signal, her smile turned into a grin and she straightened and began walking toward the two on the couch. “The reason your new girlfriend is acting so flustered is that she has a little problem that she’d like you to help her with, now that you’re her boyfriend,” she said with a slight smirk.

“Wh-what problem is that?” Ryoga asked. He glanced over at Yuka, but her gaze was firmly fixed on her lap even as her cheeks blazed bright red.

Sayuri reached the couple and Ryoga glanced up at her as she leaned over. Loud enough to be heard by both, she whispered in his ear, “She’s still a virgin, at least as far as guys are concerned.”

Ryoga jerked back and stared at the pony-tailed girl, then switched his gaze to his new girlfriend. She was actually shivering with nervousness, but she’d managed to lift her eyes to fix them on his face. She nodded silently, and now Ryoga’s blush joined hers in trying to heat up the room.

“You really want this? Why so fast?” Ryoga asked Yuka.

“Because ... I’ve wanted you for a long time, now,” she managed to get out. “You were so obviously fixated on Akane, I didn’t think it was possible, but I dreamed ... and with your direction sense, you aren’t going to be around much, may not be back for a month or more ... only here for a day or two ... we can’t really go through the usual weekend dates ... why wait?”

She fell silent, and Ryoga took a deep breath. “But ... but I haven’t ...” he managed to get out before trailing off.

“Haven’t actually slept with a girl, in all your travels?” Sayuri asked. Ryoga nodded jerkily, gaze still fixed on Yuka. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m here, then,” she continued. “If you’d like to fix that, that is — for Yuka.”

After a moment Ryoga nodded again, as jerkily as the first time, and Yuka’s face lit up with a broad if somewhat nervous smile and she leaned forward to kiss him again. This kiss started out as intense as the first one had grown to be, and when they finally broke apart Ryoga was light-headed and gasping.

Yuka glanced toward Sayuri, and the other girl nodded. “Get yourself ready and I’ll handle Ryoga, like we discussed.” Yuka nodded back, then stood, hands reaching behind her back to pull the bow at her back loose, then going to the shoulder straps holding her blue overdress on. The overdress fell to her feet, and Ryoga stared, wide-eyed, as her hands now went to work on the buttons of her blouse.

“Hey, stud, over here!” Sayuri called, and the Lost Boy yanked his eyes over to see the ponytailed girl motion to the floor. “She’s not the only one that needs some preparation. Lie down on the floor. He stood up and stepped over to the spot on the floor she’d indicated.

As he started to lie down, Sayuri reached out and whipped the towel away, leaving him naked. “You aren’t going to need this,” she said with a smirk, overriding his blushing protests from where he now sat on the floor. “Hey, Yuka, you’ll need this for the couch!” she called, tossing it to the other girl. Ryoga’s eyes followed the towel, then widened as they saw the brown-haired girl that caught it, now dressed only in her panties, socks and shoes.

Blushing beet-red when she noticed him staring at her, Yuka stopped an instinctive more to cover her breasts, instead turning to spread the towel on the couch, then reaching to her hips and sliding her panties down her legs.

Ryoga felt his head whirling, sight beginning to lose focus. “Hey, none of that!” he dimly heard Sayuri shout, then felt her grasp his chin and turn his head to look at her. After a few moments the world steadied and his eyes cleared. Watching his face closely, Sayuri nodded. “Good, it looks like this is going to be serving more than one purpose. Lie down.”

Ryoga obeyed, hands instinctively covering his rapidly hardening erection as his eyes drifted back to his new girlfriend, then stiffened in shock at the sight. Yuka was now sitting on the towel, perched on the edge of the couch, knees spread and giving him a perfect view of the treasure where her legs joined. At least, they would have, if a hand wasn’t in the way, fingers gently rubbing along the folds of her sex. Even as he watched, those fingers circled a spot up at the top of her nether lips, then slipped down and a finger disappeared up between her folds, withdrew most of the way, then plunged back in. As if feeling his gaze, Yuka glanced over and their eyes met. Her seemingly permanent blush deepened, but a hand rose to caress a breast and her finger’s pace quickened.

Ryoga had completely forgotten the presence of Sayuri at the sight of Yuka masturbating, and was barely aware of his hands being pulled away from his groin. The feel of a wet warmth circling his cockhead and slipping part way down the length of his staff, though, shocked him out of his daze as his eyes shot down and forward to see Sayuri leaning down over his crotch, head bobbing as a hand cupped his balls. “Sayuri, what are you doing?!” he gasped, and the dark-haired girl looked up, letting his staff slip from her mouth.

“Getting you ready, like I said,” she replied. Then, at his confused look, added, “Guys tend to be quick — not to say premature — the first time, and that’s not good enough for Yuka. So while she’s getting ready,” — nodding to the girl on the couch — “I’m taking care of that little problem.”

Ryoga followed her nod to see Yuka still pumping away, now with two fingers inserted, other hand playing with a bare nipple, unfocused eyes staring off into space, lips slightly parted. He again felt the sucking sensation of Sayuri’s mouth encircling his cock, tongue circling, a hand pumping him below her soft lips, but kept his eyes on his girlfriend. He felt his hips begin to flex, pushing upward even as the pace of her fingers picked up. Then he groaned and tried to clutch at the carpet as his cock stiffened even more, swelled, and Sayuri pulled up till her lips were around his cockhead, hastily swallowing as his seed filled her mouth.

Sayuri sat back as she wiped up a white stream running down from one corner of her mouth, smiling down at the Lost Boy, then looked up at her friend as her other hand continued to stroke Ryoga’s semi-stiff cock (a state rapidly changing). “Hey, girlfriend,” she called, “your boyfriend’s ready!”

For a moment, Yuka failed to respond. Then the pace of her pistoning fingers fell off and her eyes came back into focus. She glanced over at the two on the floor, cheeks still flushed if for a very different reason. “Ready?” she asked distantly.

Sayuri chuckled. :”Wow, you really got into that, didn’t you? Yeah, Ryoga’s ready to give you the real thing, are you ready to take it?” Rising to her feet, the ponytailed girl stepped over to her friend. Reaching down, she gently pulled her friend’s juice-coated fingers from out of her cleft, revealing a light brown triangle of trimmed hair to Ryoga’s gaze, and ran a finger up along her nether lips. “Oh, yeah, you’re hot,” she murmured, then leaned forward and gently kissed Yuka full on the lips. “That’s your boyfriend you’re tasting,” she whispered just loud enough for Ryoga to understand. “Time to get the real thing.”

Yuka stared up at her friend’s face for a moment, then turned to run her eyes along Ryoga’s firm, muscular body. Her eyes widened as they reached his proudly erect cock. “That’s ... that’s ... is that going to _fit_?” she asked breathlessly.

Sayuri chuckled, turning to add her own appreciative gaze. “Yeah, if we take it slow. Come on!” Standing, she offered a hand and pulled Yuka to her feet and led her over to the now brightly blushing martial artist. Yuka allowed herself to be guided to kneel over Ryoga’s groin, then at Sayuri’s instruction grasped his erection and lowered her hips until she could run the cockhead along her moist folds. She gasped at the sensation and Ryoga’s breath became slightly shaky.

Sayuri chuckled as she lay down alongside Ryoga. “Not quite the same as your own finger, or even mine, is it?” she murmured. Yuka shook her head, moaning slightly as she continued to run the cockhead up and down her cleft. “Well, don’t keep your boyfriend waiting!” Sayuri ordered.

Yuka took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and slowly lowered her hips. Ryoga’s eyes widened as he watched her folds surround him, felt the wet, tight heat of her sheath sink down over more and more of his erection. Then the tip of his cock came up against something, a barrier. Yuka stopped, held herself in place, her legs beginning to quiver slightly.

Sayuri had been watching Yuka intently. Now, she leaned over and breathed in Ryoga’s ear, too low for Yuka to hear, “You’ve hit her maidenhead, haven’t you?” Ryoga nodded slightly. “Good,” she continued. “When I give the word, thrust up hard, got it?” Ryoga nodded again. Sayuri turned her eyes back on her friend, waited, and when Yuka took a deep breath and lifted herself slightly, whispered “Now!”

Instantly, Ryoga thrust up even as Yuka dropped, and she gave a slight shriek as his cock ripped through her hymen to slam the rest of the way up into her depths, his balls slapping against her ass. Her legs went limp, dropping her down onto her boyfriend’s hips. Sayuri was up in a flash, kneeling behind her friend and pulling her back to lean against her.

“That _hurt_!” Yuka gasped.

The blood drained from Ryoga’s face and he started to babble an apology, only to stop instantly at Sayuri’s sharp gaze. Sayuri leaned over to murmur in her friend’s ear, “That’s normal — it hurts more the first time for some girls than others, it won’t hurt that much again. Just sit for a few minutes, wait for the pain to fade.” As Yuka nodded, Sayuri’s hands rose to cup her breasts, stroking and tweaking the hardened nipples.

After a few minutes Yuka slowly relaxed, started panting slightly. “Good, that should do it,” Sayuri said, lying down beside Ryoga again. “Now take it slow, like I said.”

Yuka nodded and leaned down to brace herself on her outstretched arms, then began to undulate her hips, making Ryoga moan at the tight velvet friction. Slowly, she picked up the pace, sweat beading on her face and upper torso, breasts jiggling.

Sayuri watched for a few minutes, smiling, then murmured in Ryoga’s ear, “Hey, you’re letting her do all the work — not very gentlemanly.”

“What ... ?” Ryoga managed to get out, and Sayuri chuckled throatily. “Just push up as she pushes down, flex those hips! And you have two hands, she has two hips, what a coincidence!”

Ryoga flush an even brighter red than he was already, but his hands rose to grasp Yuka’s hips, pulling her down even as Yuka yiped at his first thrust upward. After a moment she relaxed and let him do the work, her head thrown back, moaning. Suddenly her every muscle seemed to tense as she let out a long, thin shriek and Ryoga gasped as the shuddering walls of her sheath clamped down on his sword. That was all it took, as he thrust up and felt his cock swell and explode, pumping spurt after spurt of his seed into her womb.

Sayuri rolled away as Yuka’s arms gave way, dropping her down onto Ryoga’s chest, the hair of the top of her head brushing his chin. The two lay there for a time, his arms across her back. Finally, Yuka pushed herself up so she could look down at her lover’s face. “Thank you,” she whispered.

At the sight of the happiness shining from her eyes, Ryoga felt something loosen deep inside, a tightness that he hadn’t even realized had been there since getting carried at a run throughout the Tendo home by a naked redhead with a screaming Akane chasing them. “You’re welcome,” he murmured back, then glanced over at the ponytailed girl now sitting up on the floor a few feet away and smiling at the two. “Sayuri ... thanks,” he said. Yuka followed his gaze then nodded her own agreement.

“Hey, anything for a friend,” the ponytailed girl said easily. “You two just take it easy while I get your clothes in the drier, then we can get to round two.”

Ryoga’s eyes widened. _Round two?!_


	16. A Good Life

_Six months later:_

Kasumi came awake as the early morning sun came through the window of the room that had formerly been the Saotomes’ guest room, and that she now shared with her two lovers. To make it official, she glanced over at the alarm clock on the stand beside the king-sized bed, and yes, it was almost time for her to get up. She briefly considered waking up Akane for a quick bit of fun, but regretfully decided against it. Since Nabiki had moved in with her fiancé at the Kuno mansion there was no one else on the second floor to be disturbed by the noise other than the deep-sleeping Ranma, and if he did wake up the result would hardly be a hardship — but it was her turn to take care of the early morning housework. Still, there was always tomorrow, when it would be Mother Nodoka’s turn...

The night before it had been Akane’s turn to take the middle location (and so be the focus for whatever fun happened), and now Kasumi carefully slid her sister’s leg back from its resting place on top of her own, equally carefully pulled her sister’s hand from where it gently cupped a breast, and slid out of bed. Akane murmured discontentedly at the loss of one of her bedwarmers but didn’t wake up, and Kasumi quietly checked the clock to make sure the alarm was off so her lovers could remain so — if there wasn’t any immediate fun in the offing, there was no point waking them up early on a Saturday morning.

Stepping over toward where her robe was hung up, Kasumi paused for a moment in front of the full-length mirror hanging on the wall to gaze contentedly at her reflection. Her eyes ran over smooth muscles (the result of months of light exercise — she would never be the equal of Ranma or Akane, but she was no longer embarrassed to be seen with them on their nights out), then focused on her abdomen above the trimmed rectangle of soft brown pubic hair. A hand rose to caress the slight bump growing there. Two-thirds of the way there — just a few more months, and her daughter would be in her arms.

For a moment her mood darkened as she remembered Akane’s reaction when she’d learned her sister was pregnant, and Kasumi glanced back toward the bed. But of course the rings worn by Ranma and Akane that were the end result of Nabiki’s suggestion of an unofficial wedding ceremony for the younger two of their little ménage à trois (thankfully replacing Akane’s intention to get pregnant herself as soon as possible, after some serious fast-talking on Nabiki’s part) were buried out of sight under the sheets. Kasumi thought wistfully of the little private ceremony, then shook her head. _Stop that! You have no one to blame but yourself — you were as eager to shove Ranma off onto Akane as Nabiki, that first day._ But maybe, after the two made it official and Akane had her first child, she could have her own private unofficial ceremony...

Pulling on her robe and grabbing a change of clothes, she quietly headed for the stairs. First step, get the furo filled, then start on the laundry while waiting for it to fill and heat up, get cleaned up from the previous night’s fun, then on to breakfast.

/oOo\

Kasumi smoothed down her dress as she again looked herself over in a full-length mirror, this time in the bathroom. The dress was hardly the dowdy housedress she’d usually worn months ago, the new dress’s hem ending at mid-thigh, tailored to cling to her curves — even the new ones. Again, she ran her hands across the bump in her abdomen, smiling ruefully. Right now, Ranma found that bump _incredibly_ sexy, but she doubted that would continue as her girth continued to expand, however much he assured her otherwise.

Tying her hair up in a high ponytail, she headed for the door, and the corridor leading to the kitchen, and right by her father’s — and now the elder Saotomes’ — bedroom. Mother Nodoka had hesitated for a time, being part of a ménage à trois wasn’t exactly traditional and it had taken her awhile to forgive her husband for what he’d done to her son in the name of training, but in the end she had come around. And when she had moved in, she’d insisted that they remain in Soun’s bedroom. It was just a bit cramped, even with Genma-san’s simple needs, but Kasumi hadn’t had the heart to argue for long, even if she felt still guilty about it sometimes — the only real alternative without having them move upstairs and knocking out a wall was the room that had been Happosai’s, directly beneath the teenagers’ bedroom. Besides, Mother Nodoka assured her that the tight space just made things more interesting.

Pausing outside the bedroom door, Kasumi listened happily for a time to the sound coming from the room, the slurps, moans, gasps, wet slap of sweat-coated flesh against sweat-coated flesh — the three adults were definitely taking proper advantage of Mother Nodoka’s morning to “sleep in,” and Kasumi just hoped that the fathers remembered to go a little easy on her unofficial mother-in-law — after all, Ranma’s new sibling was in there as well. Finally, as the moans turned into a breathy feminine shriek, the broadly smiling girl continued on to the kitchen.

/oOo\

Apron tied on, Kasumi bustled about the kitchen: steamed rice, miso soup, pickles... she paused when opening one cupboard revealed the invitation she had taped on the inside of the door — taped up to remind her, and on the inside to hide it from the rest of the household. She wasn’t looking forward to telling Ranma about the grand opening of the new Uc-chan’s Cat Café, but she had to. However tense his relationship with Ukyo and Shampoo had become once he’d learned that they were both pregnant with his children — intentionally so — they _were_ still his children even if unborn, and the opening would provide a perfect target for the Mousse/Kodachi partnership. And since their last attempt had been aimed at “the redheaded strumpet,” it was Ukyo’s turn. Though now that she thought about it, that last attack _had_ been just a bit half-hearted. Maybe their passion was cooling — or shifting aim?

“Ya can relax, Kasumi, ya don’t hafta tell me about the opening, Cologne already did.”

Kasumi stiffened at the sound of Ranma’s voice right behind her, and she started to turn only to be stopped by two masculine hands slipping around her arms. She gasped as those hands cupped her breasts, caressing her through the soft fabric of her dress and bra — one of the shelf bras that a smirking Nabiki had given her privately on her last birthday, that left the upper two-thirds of her breasts, including her nipples, uncovered for her dress’s fabric to caress. Now, it was Ranma’s fingers doing the caressing, rubbing and tweaking the tightening tits. _Best present little sister ever gave me,_ Kasumi thought as she slumped back against the younger boy, feeling his stiffening manhood rubbing against her ass through the fabric of dress and pants. “Wh-why ... ?” she managed to gasped out.

Ranma pressed himself against her back and she felt Ranma shrug. “Kodachi an’ Mousse aren’t real threats ta Ukyo an’ Shampoo, but they could be threats ta my kids.” One of his hands drifted south, and gently, hesitantly, caressed Kasumi’s abdominal bulge, the other breaking off its attentions to a pleasure-tightened tit to cup her breast. “My kid,” he whispered, voice filled with wonder.

After a few minutes, Ranma’s hand slipped away from their child to circle Kasumi’s thigh and under her short dress. For a moment he stroked a firm buttock. “Have I mentioned yer exercisin’ is payin’ off?” he asked nonchalantly as his hand drifted between her legs.

“Y-y-yessss,” Kasumi managed to gasp out as she widened her stance. “What ab-b-bout ... Ryoga? A-a-any d-d-day ...”

Even as he shrugged, Ranma’s fingers immediately took advantage of the greater access to softly stroke her dampening cleft through the fabric of her thong before pushing it to the side. “There’s an empty lot not far from the new location. I made sure his girlfriends know about it, so if he shows they can take him there, or he can wait at the dojo. So, have you decided yet whether you’re going to take Nabiki’s suggestion?” he asked as he ran a finger between her folds and brushed it across her clit ... and again ... and again...

“Ahhh! N-n-not yet, I don’t know if ... oooh ... if college is right f-f-f-for me ... I’ll have our daughter to consider and d-don’t want to j-j-just drop all the housework on M-M-Motherrrrrr!” The last came out in a shrieking hiss as her lover’s finger broke off stroking her clit to slip back down between her now sopping folds to sink up into her hot sheath.

“I don’t think Mom will mind lookin’ after a baby or handlin’ all the housework,” Ranma mused. “Actually, she enjoys the work, and is looking forward ta the little one’s arrival almost more than _we_ are. I think she’s been lonely too long.” Another finger joined the one gently thrusting.

Kasumi had to fight to keep her knees from buckling. “Ranma, shut up and fuck me!” she demanded, and felt the hot breath of Ranma’s chuckle on her neck.

“Gotcha,” he murmured happily. Both he and Akane had been shocked the first time Kasumi had slipped into vulgarity during their lovemaking, but delighted at her embarrassment. They had immediately turned it into a game, competing to see which one would be first to push her over the edge _this_ time, and how quickly. Kasumi’s embarrassment had faded over time, but she’d continued to play along — the results simply felt too good.

The fingers slipped out of her sheath as she felt Ranma step back, heard a faint rustling of cloth as Ranma dropped his pants, and ... yes! ... she felt the head of his engorged cock probing between her legs, seeking the sopping opening of her cleft as a hand pushed up the back of her dress’s skirt. She reached down to help guide it in, gasping as she felt the rod stretch and fill her as it slowly sank in ... and in ... and in... Sighing contentedly, she leaned her head back and turned it toward Ranma. He was quick to accept her offer, and she shivered at the soft touch of his lips on hers, his hands again caressing their unborn child and a still-clothed breast.

The kiss quickly deepened as Ranma’s hands roamed, until after a few minutes Kasumi broke away. “Ranma, my shining knight in rusty armor, I thought I ordered you to fuck me,” she murmured, and felt his chuckle rumble in his chest.

“As my lady commands,” he responded solemnly, his hands shifting to grasp her hips.

Kasumi leaned forward, hands on the counter, as her lover began to eagerly pump into her, pounding thrust after pounding thrust sending shockwaves of pleasure through her as the kitchen echoed with the same sound of flesh slapping against flesh that she had been eavesdropping on just a little bit ago. She closed her eyes, moaning, murmuring encouragement, calling for more. Suddenly she felt a hand grasp one quivering breast. Her eyes flew open, and she twisted her head to find Akane standing beside her, dressed in a T-shirt and running shorts and her face shiny with sweat.

“Good morning, big sis,” Akane said with a grin. “Mind if I join in?”

“Of courssseee!” Kasumi squeaked out, as Ranma gave extra effort to a jackhammer plunge that seemed to peak in her chest before falling back to his previous steady rhythm.

Akane and Ranma laughed, and Akane levered Kasumi up straighter, slipping between her and the counter. Kasumi braced herself with her hands on Akane’s shoulders, and her mouth eagerly sought that of the younger girl’s even as Akane slipped a hand past the front of her dangling skirt, swinging with each slap of Ranma’s groin against Kasumi’s ass. Kasumi’s moans into her sister’s mouth increased in tempo as Akane’s fingers found her sister’s clit pushing out from under its hood.

Then Kasumi broke the kiss to bury her face in Akane’s shoulder, panting and moaning from her building pleasure in time with the slaps of Ranma’s increasingly rapid thrusts, until she stiffened and shrieked as her orgasm broke, smashing through her and leaving her shaking, only Akane’s and Ranma’s support keeping her on her feet. Ranma groaned as her sheath clamp down on his pistoning cock, and a few pumps later Kasumi felt his seed spurting into the depths of her spasming cleft.

Ranma thrust up into his lover once more, then lifted his hands from her hips to circle his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. Akane stepped forward as Kasumi straightened, her own arms circling the other two, and Kasumi’s own arms circled Akane’s waist. Her ragged gasps steadied and eased and she felt Ranma’s rod soften and shrink until it slipped limply out of her pussy.

When Kasumi felt that her legs were steady enough to keep her on her feet without help, she gave Akane a quick kiss and reluctantly broke off her hug to gently push her sister away. Turning, she gave Ranma a quick kiss in turn, then ripped a sheet off a roll of paper towels to wipe at the thick, milky liquid oozing down the inside of her thighs before pulling down and stepping out of her soaked panties. Stuffing the panties into an apron pocket, she smiled at the two teenagers as Ranma finished pulling up his pants. “That was a wonderful way to start the day, thank you, but you two need to get cleaned up and I have to finish breakfast,” she said reluctantly.

“Great, I could use a certain redhead’s help scrubbing my back,” Akane enthused, grinning at Ranma for a moment before focusing again on Kasumi. “And you could use some cleaning, too. Care to join us?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have time, you’ll all just have to put up with the scent until after we eat — it isn’t like we all haven’t gotten used to the smell of sex over the last half-year, including the parents.” As Akane and Ranma chuckled their agreement, Kasumi added, “And scrubbing your back is _all_ she can do, Akane. The parents are having their own pre-breakfast fun, and they’ll need to get cleaned up as well. However ... Ranma, it’s your turn in the middle tonight, and it’s been awhile since Akane and I have enjoyed sharing our favorite redhead. Would that be all right?”

“Sure, why not?” Ranma replied with a shrug. “Come on, Tomboy, let’s get cleaned up.”

Kasumi watched her two lovers leave the kitchen, then turned back to her breakfast preparation with a fond smile and a light heart. It certainly wasn’t anything remotely like the dreams that had faded over the years since the death of her and her sisters’ mother, and with Ranma in the mix it would never be quiet, at least not for long. But it was going to be a _good_ life.


End file.
